The fight of Pedro Cachín, the Cordovan who entered the main draw of Roland Garros as a lucky loser and made history

Behind the highest level of world tennis, where the great stars move on the circuit and a privileged elite, the protagonists weekly of the best tournaments on the calendar, there is a world of racket workers, who are building their careers with a lot of effort. One of them is Pedro Cachín, who at 27 is enjoying a good moment and this Monday he celebrated a very important victory for him at Roland Garros.

Cordovan, who entered into main draw of the French “great” as a lucky loser, beating the Slovakian 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 and 6-3 Norbert Gombos115th in the world and also came from the previous stage, and earned his first victory in the main draw of a Grand Slam, making his debut in a tournament of this category.

“Being in the second round of this tournament is very important for me. I want to enjoy this moment to the fullest,” said the 153rd ranked player, who will now clash with the local Hugo Gaston or the Australian Alex De Minaur.

After sealing the win against Gombos with an ace, Cachín laid his head on his hands, as if he couldn’t believe what had happened. Success is the result of many years of struggle and not giving up despite adversity.

“I’ve been playing well and I think I’ve been doing things very well in recent years,” said the native of Bell Ville, who has already secured his break into the top 150 rankings for the first time.

Cordovan started his career as a professional in 2013 and in 2014 he settled in Barcelona. He got to that city thanks to an acquaintance of his father, who owned a restaurant next door alex corretja, former world number two and French “great” champion in 1998 and 2001. The former Spanish player made him a place in his academy and became the second father for the Argentine. Moreover, today he is still one of his coaches.

With a guide like Corretja, it didn’t take long for Cachín to win his first trophy as a professional. It was in September 2015 at Seville Challengerwhere he lost in the final Pablo Carreno Busta, then 54th in the ranking. At that time, the Argentine was 248th in the standings. But after that assignment, he fell into a ravine, where it was difficult for him to get out.

“After winning in Seville, my coaches asked me to believe it a little more. But when I came back to play I lost eight consecutive first roundsI can’t stand the pitch, ”he told Clarín at the end of 2018, when he was still struggling to discover his best level.

He was also unlucky to suffer some major injuries. In May 2016, he had a stress fracture in one of his vertebrae, for which he had not been active for four months. And in July 2019, months after getting his first ATP victory in Córdoba, his home (he started in settled and reached the quarterfinals), he tore the ligaments in his ankle while playing with Braunschweig ChallengerGermany.

“It took me a long time to feel good again. The rest of that year I played with a lot of pain. I never felt well”, the Cordovan recalled a while ago, who earlier that season he made headlines for sending the stringing machine he used in his early years to a boy from Congo, to replace the stick used by the little boy as a tool.

When he was starting to do well on the court, the coronavirus pandemic slowed the circuit for five months and ATP froze in the ranking, preventing him from translating good results into classification climbs.

Last year, he finally lifted his second trophy by winning the final of Challenger of Oeiras in portuguese Nuno Borges. “I was looking for this a long time ago. I trained a lot, my head played tricks on times and it’s something I worked a lot on. It’s like this, the truth. It’s consistency, consistency and consistency and at some point there’s coming which gives you joy ”, reviewed after that success.

Now in 2022, he is one of the great protagonists of that circuit, second in importance to men’s tennis, where he regularly plays. It’s more, He has only played seven against ATP major draws and his last fight at this level was in February 2020.

In March, he reached the decisive opportunity in the tournament of marbellabut fell to the Spaniards James Munar (89 °). In mid -April, he shouted champion at Madrid by defeating his countryman in the final Marco Trungellitti. And in the first week of May, he repeated the celebration on praguewith victory against the Italians Lorenzo Glustino.

So, he came to Paris in a good moment and with confidence. He didn’t miss qualifying – the second he played in a French tournament and the sixth in a Grand Slam – because he lost the last round against the Russian. Pavel Kotov. But he benefited from one of three last -minute kills and entered the main draw as a lucky loser. And he didn’t let the second chance pass.

The victory against Gombos was the result of so many people paddling against the current. The award for hard work and perseverance for Cachín, a true tennis worker.