Horacio de la Peña he reached the 31st spot in the world rankings in 1987 and won four ATP titles in singles and six in doubles. Talented and brave lefty, he ended up hanging his racket too young – at 28 years old – due to a chronic injury to his left elbow. Retired, he spent a few years training players. In these two stages of his life, he suffered firsthand the difficulties of living far from Europe and the United States, centers of the professional tennis circuit. That reality – normal for tennis players in the region – was etched in his memory and last year, in the midst of a pandemic, he decided he needed to do something about it. Thus was born the Dove Men + Care South American Legion Circuit, who this week landed at the Racket Club with the Challenger of Buenos Aires.
“Did you see when you see something and you know it’s there, but people remind you of it and you say ‘I’m not paying the attention that I should ‘? Step that. As a player he had to go to Europe, to Australia, everywhere to get points for the ranking. When I had to do my first tour my dad made a barbecue at my house with all his friends and they all put in a hundred dollars so that I could travel. I was lucky to go, play, win and be able to give them back the money. It was normal, that’s why we didn’t realize it. But it shouldn’t have been normal, “he told Clarín at the Buenos Aires club bar.
And he added: “Last year, when I started interview players on Instagram, outsiders – Alex Corretja, Carlos Moyá, Juan Carlos Ferrero, for example – told me ‘You don’t know how much more you suffer than we do. What of you its inhuman‘. And I said ‘Here is something that is installed in South American tennis, something that We think it has to be that way, but it’s not fair. Why don’t we try to change it? For me, The Legion It is a very important brand in South America, not only in Argentina, and I felt that we had a product with which to tempt brands and do something good. “
Squillari, Zabaleta, Francisco Cerúndolo, Guillermo Coria, Collarini, De la Peña and Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, at the Buenos Aires Challenger. Instagram photo @elpulgadelapena
De la Peña, who settled in Chile 16 years ago, then embarked on a project for which, at first, very few saw a future.
“When I started to summon the legionaries and to the associations, they all said ‘This skinny guy is totally crazy’. I think they saw it as something so far away, that everyone said yes because they thought it was not going to come to anything, “he said.
And he said: “Even the organizations that govern tennis thought, at first, that it was crazy. They said it was a good idea but it was never going to be true. The ATP, likewise, accompanied us with one, helped us with support, with dates, with money, with everything. Of the ITF, although we are giving them 24 tournaments, we still did not have the reaction we want, we continue working on that “
All the skepticism changed when the multinational Unilever He agreed to finance the tour for at least two years, with a contribution of more than a million dollars, and some former players of great importance in the region began to support the project.
“Unity is strength. But the most important thing is that knowledge gives you a position. When you sit at a table to talk to a manager or a tennis businessman and put them in front of Agustín Calleri, Mariano Zabaleta, Pico Mónaco , Nicolás Lapentti or Luis Horna, they are scared, They don’t say nonsense because they know they are talking to experts. And that’s what we have, a group of top-level experts who know tennis, played tennis, suffered tennis and work in tennis. That makes us stronger, “he reflected.
The tour – which also includes ITF men’s and women’s tournaments and this year he had to change his calendar a bit due to the pandemic – he had his first stop at the challenger level in Quito, in September (with Argentine champion, Facundo Mena). Then he passed through Lima (September 27 to October 3) and held two tournaments in Santiago de Chile (from October 4 to 10 and from October 11 to 17, the latter won by Sebastian Baez) before arriving in Buenos Aires. And it will close 2021 with two competitions in Brazilian lands: São Paulo and Florianópolis, between late November and mid-December.
“It’s incredible. I walk through the tournament and I am stopped by fathers, mothers, coaches, guys who don’t know me and say thank you. It’s very nice, but the most beautiful thing is when you hear the stories of players and fathers who have spent fortunes, of the number of boys who have retired because they did not have this opportunity… They are incredible stories. That is the engine, the push you need to keep working, “said De la Peña.
“I am very happy, very grateful for the support and we are going to continue, to see how far we get. I think it will be a total success. We are finishing the first year and the projection we see is incredible. We are very focused on making the good things so that all this is a reality and people continue to trust us. It is an effort, but it is worth it, “he closed.
“In four or five years, tennis in Argentina is going to be glorious”
Horacio De la Peña did not rest for a minute during his days at the Racket Club. He showed his talent with the racket on several occasions, closely followed everything that happened on the courts with the Challenger matches in Buenos Aires, one of the stops of the Dove Men + Care South American Legion Circuit, did not neglect his work as an ideologist and promoter of the tour and on Thursday, he even made time to dictate a tennis clinic, an activity that he knows very well.
It is that after his retirement in 1994, the porteño continued linked to high performance and professional tennis for some time: in addition to training several South American stars such as David Nalbandian, Gastón Gaudio, Guillermo Coria, Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massú; was head of the Chilean team that won two golds and a bronze in Athens 2004. But for some time he has been dedicated to training and developing players.
“The sacrifice of professional tennis is mainly family. The strain on the family of a high-performance athlete or coach is too high. I lived it for many years and in the end, I made a determination for life. I said ‘I’m going to continue working as a job, but without sacrificing my family. ‘“said the porteño to explain the reason for this change of path.
Today with 55 years, lives in Santiago de Chile, in “a country that gave me the opportunity to project and grow and did not change my work rules.” He splits his time between his tennis club –“I am not dedicated to the Academy, but to the rental of courts and service to the member”, he said, the brand new South American circuit and “many talks and many clinics.”
In his work with boys and young players, he takes advantage of all the experience he has accumulated as a player and coach.
“One of the first things that I like to happen to the boys has to do with how a player prepares to compete, the importance of having a pattern of play and a good team. And the importance of family. The father and mother must always be there. Always pushing, it is the only way that great champions come out, “he explained.
And a memory of what he lived in the beginning of his professional life reinforced the idea.
“When I started on the international circuit, I took off and I was lucky that I won many games and I climbed very quickly in the ranking. The second challenger I played, I won. It didn’t take long to win my first ATP either. But at that very moment , my father got sick, the person who was with me, who was pushing me, was not with me. That process, if I had had my dad by my side, it would have been much easier“.
-You were a player with a very strong personality and who had some clashes with teammates and colleagues, such as with Martín Jaite. What would you say to that Horacio if he were one of the guys you work with today?
-That these confrontations are a waste of time. You never have to divide. Even if you don’t share opinions, we are all in the same business. On the court you have to compete, but outside you have to push everyone to the same side. It is the only way to achieve things and make this sport better.
-You retired very young. Did you have many dreams to fulfill?
-Always one wants something more. I enjoyed and am happy with what I did. I would have liked to win, perhaps, a Grand Slam or the Davis Cup, as a player or as a coach. I was close to some achievements at times. But I’m not complaining. I was captain of an Olympic team that won three medals. I trained Gaudio, Coria, Nalbandian, González, Massú … I was very lucky and I am very grateful for what happened to me in life. I never look at what I didn’t do. If I think about the future, the only thing I would love is to be able to help my son in the process, if he gets to play professional tennis.
-How do you see Argentine tennis today?
-It is a worldwide example of overcoming, of effort, of always going to look for one more. Today we have five top 100s, but I think next year we will have eight and the next twelve. And I think that, thanks to the work and effort that all the Legion players are doing, in the next four or five years, tennis in Argentina – and in South America – is going to be glorious.
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