It was seen coming. It was an open secret. Raúl Zurutuza’s cycle as director of the Mexican Tennis Open came to an end after more than two decades at the helm of the most important tournament in Latin America.
Grupo Mextenis has been making a series of more than controversial decisions since Renata Burillo, daughter of “Güero”, took the reins of the company. When Alejandro Burillo relegated the responsibility of Mextenis to her daughter, prioritizing her state of health, she began a new era in a company that had been gaining ground on the ATP circuit.
Renata has made “sentimental” decisions. She took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to get rid of the Open press officers (Marlene and Marifer), leaving the responsibility in the hands of a “friend”.
This friend made the area of communication a family area, relegating the positions to her niece, without any experience in the position and totally overwhelmed by the situation. They were more than one of those who lost their jobs in the famous “reconstruction.”
In Acapulco and Los Cabos. In 2018, the daughter of “Güero” married the Colombian businessman Álvaro Falla, who intervened in the negotiation for Mextenis to buy the Los Cabos franchise, formerly the ATP 250 of Bogotá.
And precisely in the middle of this year, without any communication in between -what a coincidence-, Falla himself was appointed as the CEO of the Group, a position that Zurutuza precisely occupied. It was Raúl’s first outing.
Days later I contacted Raúl to find out his feelings on the situation and politically, as always, he limited himself to answering with “company decisions”.
I also found out about Mextenis’s intention to “fire” him after the 30th edition of the tournament, and I had to ask him. “I don’t know, you should ask them,” he commented.
And well, they did not wait for the 30th edition scheduled for February 2023. The Acapulco tournament will not be the same without Raúl Zurutuza, who is to this day the most important man in Mexican tennis.
A contact assures me that this is the first of many decisions. Logic would indicate that Geoffrey Fernández would be the next director of the AMT, but they assure me that it will be Falla himself.
Renata’s husband would end up keeping the two positions that Raúl Zurutuza had until a few months ago. The “Mextenis family”.
