International tennis gave Argentina a pleasant surprise on the London grass. This Tuesday, Mar del Plata native Francisco Comesaña caused a stir in his debut in the main draw of Wimbledon: he won a great match against Andrey Rublev, the number six in the world, and continues to write, so far, the best year of his short career. It is the first time he qualifies for this stage of a Grand Slam, after having come very close in the US Open and Australia Open.
The world number 122 has just made history and is looking for more for this tournament; he is the first Argentine to beat a top 10 player and he did it in four sets: 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 and 7-6. An unforgettable day for Comesaña who, in addition, had never won a match on grass. This victory condemned the Russian to drop to seventh place soon. “I was very lucky today, I don’t know what I did, I just enjoyed the match,” he said excitedly. Now, he will go for the Australian Adam Walton, who has just eliminated his compatriot Federico Coria in the debut, this Thursday in the second round.
A few months ago, the Mar del Plata native commented that it was “the first time I’ve played more than 25 tournaments,” which were exactly 27, including three titles. At that time, he managed to overcome the series of injuries that tormented him and was able to strengthen himself mentally with a clear objective: “I would like to be among the top 50 in the world.” And he is on his way to that; in fact, his best ranking was in May of this year, when he reached 87th place.
Francisco Comesaña’s time in Grand Slam tournaments
At 23 years old, he had good performances and was close to causing an upset in the two competitions of this kind in 2024. In the first, the Australian Open, he managed to win the first match against the Japanese Yuta Shimizu by 7-6, 6-2; then he fell in a fight in the Qualy against the Hungarian Mate Valkusz by 6-2, 4-6, 2-6, and left very good feelings.
Previously, he had shown himself to be strong at the 2023 US Open and was very close to qualifying. “I knew or sensed that he was going to realize that it was my first time in the last round of the Grand Slam qualifiers. Perhaps with more experience, he knew how to handle those nerves better. Taro Daniel is a very intelligent player, with many years and many of those matches under his belt, which I obviously lack. He was more relaxed and made almost no mistakes,” he explained in a note with La Capital. In the two previous matches, he won with authority, although as the days went by the stay became more complicated. “I wasn’t playing much on cement but now we plan to play more on that surface,” he explained.
Comesaña, his passion for Boca and when Navone saved him from going to jail
The tennis player, who does not hide his love for the blue and gold colors and until a few years ago reflected it on his social networks with jokes about River, played tournaments in Kimberley de Mar del Plata since he was a child and shared several moments with the renowned Argentine athletes Sebastián Báez, Tomás Etcheverry (qualified for the second round of Wimbledon) and Mariano Navone. With the latter, he lost the semifinals of the Santa Fe Challenger in 2023, the final in Santa Cruz and the semifinal in Lima, becoming a tough opponent in recent times. “It’s a nice rivalry that we have had for a couple of years, we know each other a lot and just as he won four in a row, I had beaten him six in a row at the time. I hope that next time it will be my turn,” he recalled.
He has an unforgettable anecdote with his compatriot in Romania, on one of their shared trips, where he saved him from going to prison. Yes, Navone rescued Francisco from a disaster. “When I presented my passport, they couldn’t identify me because the photo was from when I was 11 years old. Then they asked me for a signature on a blank sheet. And when I signed, it was also different because it was a signature from ten years ago. Then they asked me for my document and there was a different signature,” said the tennis player.
Fortunately, his partner had a good solution for the awkward moment: “Mariano helped me by reminding me that in Argentina, when you are a minor, your passport is signed by your parents. When we explained this to him, the border officer more or less understood. But we were already looking at him as more eager to take me to jail than anything else.”
2024-07-02 21:05:32
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