Báez won his first ATP title by defeating Tiafoe in the Estoril final. Photo EFE/EPA/TIAGO PETINGA
Sebastián Báez earned the first trophy of his career at the ATP level and 81,310 euros (just under 86 thousand dollars) by winning the final of the Estoril tournament against the American Frances Tiafoe. But the 21-year-old from Buenos Aires also got an extra prize from his time in the Portuguese competition. Because thanks to the 250 points awarded to him by the screaming champion, he will make a great jump in the rankings and appear this Monday in the 40th step, a higher than a living world tennis legend, the Swiss Roger Federer.
Báez has been climbing the rankings weekly for several seasons, beyond a small momentary setback after a period of inactivity or some bad result. After getting his first points in August 2019, he didn’t stop growing. On November 22 last year, after winning his sixth Challenger in Campinas, he made it into the top 100. And he landed in Estoril as 59th in the standings.
The great performance he signed in that event – where he defeated three former champions (Joao Sousa, Richard Gasquet Y Albert Ramos Vinolas), a finalist (Tiafoe) and a former world number three and Grand Slam winner (Marin Cilic), who are on their way to the title-will allow him to climb 19th position and reach up to 40th place when updated ranking this Monday.
Thus, he will remain as the third best spot in the Argentine, behind Diego Schwartzman, who will remain 15th, and Federico Delbonis, who will drop one step to 37th. And it will also be the best of those Next generation light blue and white, ahead of Francisco Cerúndolo (49th) and Thomas Etcheverry (94th), the other member of that group currently in the top 100.
And as if to make that promotion even better, he would directly rank one of the greatest players – if not the best – of all time, Federer.
The Swiss, who came from several seasons with very little activity and have not played since July last year (lost in the Wimbledon quarterfinals against the Polish Hubert Hurkacz) due to three surgeries on his right knee, he was losing strength as he devoted himself to recovery from the surgeries.
When he first came under the knife, in February 2020, he was number three in the world. Soon, he fell to fourth place, but in March, the ranking was frozen by the pandemic, allowing him to maintain that position despite re-surgery in May of the same year. Upon reactivating the rankings in August, he dropped another spot and finished the year as number five.
Last year, he barely played five tournaments: he reached the quarterfinals in Doha, in March; lost in debut Geneva, in May; reached the round of 16 at Roland Garros in early June; played on the lawn again halle, a few weeks later, and bid farewell to the eighth; and then played Wimbledon. When he announced on Aug. 15 that he would undergo another operation on his knee, he was already ninth.
Because the recovery took longer than expected and he still hasn’t started his 2022 season – a few days ago, it was confirmed that in October he will play in basel his first official contest in more than a year-, continued to fall in the rankings. It reached 44 ° in early April. And this Monday, he will rank 41st, exactly one spot below Baez, who will see his name more than his childhood idol. An additional prize for an extraordinary week from Buenos Aires.
Source: Clarin
