The destiny of Ugo Carabelli: from the “quilombo” as a ball boy at the Argentina Open to the “prize” of being Carlos Alcaraz’s rival

A free fall shot That Juan Pablo Varillas didn’t respond and the total relief of Camilo Ugo Carabelli, who, under the watchful eye of a group of friends who encouraged him in the stands of court 2 of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis, defeated the Peruvian (85th in the world) 7-6 and 6-4 in two hours and eight minutes of play . and surpassed its debut in ATP 250 of Buenos Aires. The world number 2, reigning champion and great attraction of the tournament, awaits him: Carlos Alcaraz.

A few minutes after this great victory, and after checking the result of his beloved San Lorenzo against Estudiantes de La Plata on his cell phone, Ugo Carabelli – from Buenos Aires, 21 years old – sat down in the press conference and showed the sweet taste of a truly special victory: “It was a very important match for me because it was here in Buenos Aires and because many friends and relatives came to see me. I was very nervous. “I wanted to win at any cost and I felt ready to do so, even though I knew that Juanpi would be a very tough rival.”

The Argentine tennis player, who comes from being Piracicaba Challenger champion, in Brazil it exceeded qually after collecting three match points against the Bolivian Hugo Dellien and strives to earn a place in the main draw of major tournaments more frequently. This was only his third win at ATP level after beating Russian Aslan Karatsev at Roland Garros 2022 and Colombian Daniel Galán in Buenos Aires last year. He dreams of returning to the Top 100, where he was in August 2022 when he achieved the best ranking of his career (96th).

“I arrive with a good level and I think that playing Thursday with Alcaraz is a reward for how I worked, for how my team is doing.”So I’m very happy” analyzed the player he trained with Carlos Berlocq.

And it recognizes the influence of trainer to explain his beautiful moment: “Charly gets along very well with me. Being so opposite we make a nice couple: he is intense and I am the opposite, more relaxed. It made me understand what it means to work seriously to be a tennis player, that is, to really put everything aside and live for tennis. “I haven’t done this before.”

He didn’t live for tennis, as he says, but tennis has always been part of his life. He trained at San Lorenzo, a club of which he is a fanatical fan and for which he currently plays interclub, and He became a ball catcher at the Argentine Open.

“I remember doing quilombo all day. I was at the disco all day. I also remember there was a cut of ball boy and I was always the first. Martín (Jaite, the tournament director) always took me out of the players’ lounge because I wanted to play. “He would come and laugh all day,” she recalls with a mischievous smile.

I saw up close the great tennis players who have always been part of the Buenos Aires ATP. For example, I was 15 years old when Rafael Nadal He won his only title in Buenos Aires after beating Pico Mónaco in the final. And now he will face Rafa’s successor: Carlos Alcaraz, the biggest challenge of his career.

It will be the first time he will have to face a phenomenon of this magnitude, but it will not be the first time he will see on the other side of the net one of those called to take the lead left by the “Big Three”.

At Melbourne Park, after crashing in the last qualifying round Australian Open against the Dutch Jesper De Jong, he remained there for a few more days and he trained with Jannik Sinner, who would end up lifting his first Grand Slam title there. “I also trained with Medvedev and Tiafoe, but I was surprised by the strength with which Sinner hits the ball. It’s incredible”, commented.

And he told a funny anecdote with the Italian. “Sinner played in the second round with De Jong, the one who had beaten me in the last round qually, and asked me how I played. This shows her humility. “I answered, but inside I thought I had no chance of losing.”, he recalled. And so it was: Sinner overwhelmed De Jong with a crushing triple for 6-2.

Ugo Carabelli will now have a test as difficult or more difficult than that. “I imagine what the stadium will be like, crazy, but there’s a long way to go until Thursday. I’ll try to take it calmly and try not to start crying.”hill.