Davis Cup in Rosario: the tension of Argentina and the fervor of Kazakhstan, in an oven that is impossible for everyone

In the world of tennis it is always said that the Davis Cup It’s a separate tournament. That in this competition, in which the players put aside the individualities of the circuit to push as a team for a common goal, many times favoritism remains in the locker room, on the pitch the ranking doesn’t matter and matches are won more with mentality and the belief that they have high level tennis. History is full of examples that confirm this. To this list we must add what happened at the beginning of the series Argentina AND Kazakhstan for the Qualifiers 2024at the Rosario Jockey Club.

The Biancocelesti present themselves as the great candidates to win the duel which will qualify the winner to the group stage of the September Finals. For history, for their name and because they play at home, on a surface and in conditions of their choice. But in the preview, without denying the favorite status, Guillermo Coria and his players had warned: the Kazakhs are tough opponents, regardless of the losses suffered before the start, and they should not be trusted. The two singles on the first day proved them right. Why Francisco Cerúndolo28th in the world, defeated 7-5 and 6-2 Dmitry Popko, 338°, but I need a lot of work and a lot of brains to do it. And why Tomas Etcheverry, On the 28th, he searched and searched, but did not find a way to defeat the “almost Spanish” tennis of Timofey Skatov278th, who beat him 6-4 and 7-5.

“Davis is a competition apart. There is more pressure and nervousness than in any other tournament on the circuit, because you want to win no matter what, but also play well. And you know it’s a match, two at most, to show” The captain you are well. But I like it, I enjoy it, more than anything at home because all your people are there. And victories like this give me a lot of energy for what’s to come”, analyzed Cerúndolo.

And he added: “Maybe what you did this year doesn’t influence you much. Because you know that you don’t play for yourself, you play for the team and for the country. You enter with nerves or tension. The important thing is shaking those things off quickly to let the tennis start to flow. It happened a bit against Popko, I started tense, I didn’t know how he was playing and I wasted some break points. After we won the first set, I started playing a little better and I broke it because it was too hot.”

“It was difficult for me, from start to finish. I didn’t feel comfortable at any point,” said Etcheverry, who played only his second match at Davis (the first that could weigh on the final result). “I tried to reverse the situation in the second set, looking a little more. I had some chances, but I wasn’t precise or aggressive in those moments. I absolutely didn’t expect this result. Now, with the fever skyrocketing, I have Remember some moments when I chose the wrong shot or was in a hurry, little things you must not fail at.

“At Davis, it’s another experience you live on the pitch,” continued the player from La Plata. “Today at one point I went 0-30 with two parallel setbacks and I thought ‘Now is the time, it’s a big time, let’s see if people will take me’. And I met the audience when I needed it most. It was one of the best moments of the match, when I started to unload because I had to free myself somehow, and I thought I could change the situation. But then he resolved the situation well and it didn’t happen to me.”

The two Argentines suffered the Davis effect, beyond the fact that the outcome was different for each. It seemed to bother both of them, at least at the beginning of the games, that they had to go out and play a series that, for those watching from the outside, was already won.

It is true that the rivals – Popko, who has been in Argentina since the beginning of January and has just reached the finals and semi-finals in two Challengers on clay, and Skatov, who has got his hands on this surface during the five years he has lived in Valencia – they played above what their ranking indicated. And that the sweltering heat may have played a role. But both Fran and Tomy are superior tennis players. What happened? What usually happens in Davis: the loser has nothing to lose and takes advantage. The positive? The Argentines never gave up and kept fighting, even if things didn’t work out for them.

“The tension with which the boys started is logical. They are tough matches and when you face players with a slightly misleading ranking, they play with more ease, without pressure and this makes it a little more difficult for you. We knew that wasn’t the case “. It won’t be easy at all,” Coria reflected.

And he closes: “The boys were prepared. Obviously they are playing their first series, we must accompany them and support them. What happened can happen and we must be strong. tommy He never relaxed his attitude, always trying to search a little more in the moments when he couldn’t find the sensations he had felt in the previous days. Always with a lot of determination, with spectacular behavior, respecting his rival. Now we also have a tough double awaiting us and what comes next. “It won’t be easy, but we’re here to fight.”

The Jockey Club, a bakery

Hats, caps and umbrellas, towels covering your back and neck, sunscreen, sunglasses… And water, lots of water. The colder it is, the better. On Saturday it was worth fighting the suffocating heat, an important protagonist in the first day of the group between Argentina and Kazakhstan.

The players suffered it on the pitch. During breaks, ice-filled towels appeared to cool the burning bodies after each demonstration. And also the clean t-shirts, which didn’t last long in those conditions: just one Games or two and they were already soaked again.

“One of the worst days since we’ve been here. I finished the point and felt like I was going to die. Between each point, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to start the next one. It was strange,” commented Francisco Cerúndolo.

“It wasn’t easy to play in the heat. You had to be strong in the head,” admitted Tomás Etcheverry, who at one point appeared to be suffering from a drop in blood pressure or dehydration and needed to take a pill given to him by the team doctor.

The audience wasn’t too amused either. At times he was subdued and didn’t give that energy that usually exists when Argentina plays at home. The sun suffered so much that when a passing cloud covered it, a chorus of voices could be heard. “Ahhh.” which reflected the joy of those seconds of relief.

And between the first and second game, while some sought shelter under a shelter or an umbrella, others even queued to bathe in the water that two people threw with hoses, from a municipal truck parked outside the property, from the other part of a wire fence

High temperature and high humidity, a really tough combination for playing tennis, which has transformed the Jockey Club into a real oven.