During the Davis Cup series last weekend, the Argentine Tennis Association (AAT) paid tribute to former Corrientes tennis player Leonardo Mayer. The act took place after the dispute of the first match of the Saturday day at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club (Baltc).
After the victory of Horacio Zeballos and Machi González, Federico Delbonis entered the Guillermo Vilas Central Court to give Leo Mayer, retired at the end of 2021, a painting with the image of the “Yaca” after defeating the Brazilian Joao Souza in 2015 in the which was the longest match in Davis Cup history.
It was a heartfelt tribute from Fede to Leo. They faced each other on the circuit, shared training sessions, trips, and many other moments.
But without a doubt, there is a week that they will never be able to forget: they were part of the historic Argentine team that in November 2016 broke the curse and managed to win the long-awaited and long-awaited Silver Salad Bowl for the first time in history.
Figures of the stature of Gabriela Sabatini, Mercedes Paz, Agustín Calleri and Mariano Zabaleta were also present at the tribute.
After the applauded tribute, all the members locked him in the middle of the field and together with the audience they began to sing: “El Yacaré, el Yacaré, el Yacaré”.
Argentina qualified for the 2022 Davis Cup Finals over the weekend after beating the Czech Republic 4-0 after Horacio Zeballos and Máximo González won doubles over Jiri Lehecka and Tomas Machac 6-4 and 6 -4, and Federico Coria over Vit Kopriva 6-2, 6-4.
