The confinement due to the pandemic, in 2020, changed everyone’s lives. On different scales, of course. As a professional athlete, the tennis player Facundo Díaz Acosta, who two years earlier had stood out at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, winning the silver medal in singles and the gold medal in doubles, abruptly stopped his evolution. The image of him disappointed, practicing against a mattress at the door of his house since he did not have permission to go out to train, spread across social networks.
Today, three and a half years later, the left-hander is enjoying his best moment. For now 87º del ranking, advanced to the semifinals of an ATP Tour for the first timeby winning in the Argentina Open to the Serbian Dusan Lajovic (58th) by 6-4 y 6-3. This Saturday, not before 4 p.m., it will be measured against Federico Coria for a place in Sunday’s definition.
“The thing about the mattress was almost four years ago… I try not to remember those moments too much, because they were complicated,” said the player trained by Mariano Monachesi. Last week, in Córdoba, he reached the quarterfinals of an ATP for the first time; but now he improved the record of it. “Little by little I feel more and more part of these tournaments. I didn’t advance that much when I played before. That’s why now they are all new things. Last week I experienced my first quarterfinals, with a lot of nerves. They are new sensations that I have to get used to. Hopefully it will be the beginning of many more performances and that will be more normal,” he added.
“Relaxation in the heat of battle”
Díaz Acosta has a routine during match breaks that attracts attention: Sit down, close your eyes and breathe deeply. What does that action give you before picking up the racket again and competing? “I started working with a mental coach a few years ago, I think the end of 2021, and I try to escape a little from the reality of that moment with the breaths, closing the eyes, trying to be in the present moment and nothing else. Is for seek a little tranquility, concentration, and keep my thoughts firm and don’t let them go anywhere. “Be at the moment that is my turn to be able to play all the points,” she explained at the press conference in response to a question from THE NATION.
Professional since 2018, Díaz Acosta made the clic so longed for in recent months. It is worth remembering that last October he won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chili. “I don’t know why I clicked now… I matured, I learned a lot of defeats, good and bad moments. Then I grew, feeling more confident,” she said. A minimum jump of twelve positions has already been assured in the ATP ranking, up to 75th place. Beyond the outcome at the Buenos Aires ATP, the La Lucila player will face his first main draw of an ATP 500 next week, in Rio de Janeiro.
As the last Pan American champion, Díaz Acosta could be chosen to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The only way for the left-hander not to be in the Olympic competition is for four Argentine players to enter directly by individual ranking and for him not to be one from them. Today, in the live ranking, he is one of the best four. The cut will occur on the first Monday after Roland Garros.
What are your mirrors? “I usually watch a lot of videos of Rafa [Nadal], but I try to get things from all the players, to take a little bit from each one and not just copy from Rafa. But if I had to choose a model, I would choose Rafa, one hundred percent,” concluded Díaz Acosta, who this Saturday will have the biggest challenge of his young career.
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