D.Dedura-Palomero’s last name means nothing to a common Lithuanian and many would not even suspect that Diego has Lithuanian roots, but Lithuanian football fans have definitely heard of this last name.
In 1997-2010, defender Ignas Dedura played 47 matches in the Lithuanian national football team, who is the uncle of D.Dedura-Palomero.
I. Dedura’s sister, tennis coach Rūta Deduraitė, left for Germany and started a family life with Chilean Cesar Palomero. The family had two children – Mariano in November 2005 and Diego in March 2008.
Both parents were tennis coaches, so it is not surprising that both children grew up on the tennis court and have remained on it to this day. Both Mariano and Diego turned professional. The 18-year-old M.Dedura-Palomero occupies the 988th position in the ATP ranking, while the 16-year-old Diegito is already ranked 779th.
It doesn’t pay to play with the youth anymore
The German, who admires the game of Casper Ruud and Rafael Nadal, can also remind these tennis players with his game. The 16-year-old, like his heroes, is at his best on clay.
“I like the primer the most. I think that I play very well from the back when I have to change longer streaks. However, I should still work on my serve and playing at the net,” said D. Dedura-Palomero, speaking to lrytas.lt.
The German can compete in youth tournaments for another two years, but we can only see the 16-year-old now in the Futures and Challenger series tournaments. D.Deduros-Palomero, who has the 36th ITF youth ranking, says that playing in youth tournaments is no longer worthwhile for him.
“We talked with mom and dad and decided that it’s not worth playing Juniors tournaments. When you move to men’s tennis, you see how much you need to improve. The sooner you can make the transition to men’s tennis, the better.
In Germany, I won the J300 Junior Series and moved up to about 30th in the rankings. After making the first round of the Challenger, I earned a good amount of ranking points and decided that I would play Futures against the men. We consulted with my parents and decided that this is a better way to rise to the top,” said the tennis player.
The young tennis player did not even take advantage of the opportunity to play in two youth Grand Slam tournaments – Wimbledon and US Open.
It is true that Diegito has 2 more years in which he can participate in this competition. But how to get into them if you no longer play in youth tournaments and no longer lose the ITF ranking?
“If you are ranked 750 and above, you can immediately enter the main junior Grand Slam competitions,” explained the situation of a German with Lithuanian roots. “I’ll think about it and maybe try to play in another Roland Garros or something like that.”
Big goals in men’s tennis
D. Dedura-Palomero started his professional career at the age of 15. The tennis player says that the beginning was very difficult, but in this way, his gaps and areas that need to be improved were quickly seen.
“In the beginning, there were quite a few losses in the first stages,” said the German. – The difference in physical preparation and strength was felt immediately. In men’s tennis, during a point there are longer exchanges of shots, much more running is required. And you felt that faster access to good decisions. Now I think everything is mostly in the mind.”
Diego laughed when asked about his goals. The young tennis player says that this year he already exceeded his goals by a lot and had to create a new vision in the middle of the season.
“I had set myself the goal of reaching the top 900 ranking by the end of the year, but I already managed to exceed this plan. We are talking now that it would be very good to get to the 500th place”, D. Dedura-Palomero revealed his plans.
That such goals and results are simply impressive is best confirmed by past examples.
The best tennis player on the planet, Jannik Sinner, celebrated his 17th birthday ranked 1159th and finished his first year as a professional ranked 551st.
German Alexander Zverev (ATP-2) celebrated his 17th birthday in 827th position. True, the second rocket of the planet rose to the second hundred just 3 months after the 17th of Gitmadien.
The Spanish super-talent Carlos Alcaraz (ATP-3) met his 17th birthday already in the 318th place.
Tennis legend – Serbian Novak Djokovic (ATP-4) celebrated his 17th birthday at the 515th position. True, it is worth noting that just a couple of days after his birthday, the Serb rose to the 338th place.
Meanwhile, Danijilas Medvedev (ATP-5) did not even have a ranking at the age of 17 or 18.
Therefore, comparing Diegito with the top five players on the planet, it is safe to say that the talent of the young tennis player is equal to the elite. D. Dedura-Palomero himself understands his situation very well and does not hide that soon, thanks to a good game, he can apply not to the youth, but to the adult Grand Slam tournaments.
“Anyway, everything changes very quickly in tennis. Play a few better tournaments, win a Challenger, and you’re on the verge of playing the adult Grand Slam. It can happen in any way”, said D. Dedura-Palomero.
They don’t forget their roots
Although D. Dedura-Palomero represents Germany, he does not forget Lithuania. You can meet a 16-year-old at least several times a year in Lithuania.
“I try to come to Lithuania 3-4 times a year and spend a few days here. You want to keep in touch with your grandparents, family and not forget your roots. We communicate a lot with our cousins from Lithuania”, says Diego, who visited Kaunas a few weeks ago.
If the tight schedule allowed, the German would return to Lithuania more often. However, the tennis player rarely gets to visit his father’s native Chile.
“It is much more difficult to get to Chile, the journeys are longer,” said D.Dedura-Palomero with a sigh. – The last time I was there was in 2023, when I played in the tournament. I hope to stay there longer next year and try to play some tournaments there.”
It turns out that Lithuanian tennis star R. Berankis knows the 16-year-old tennis player very well. Praising the Lithuanian tennis infrastructure, the German revealed that this year he trained together with an experienced Lithuanian tennis player in Vilnius.
“The conditions here are really great. I was in Vilnius in January, when I trained with Ričardus Berankis. The SEB arena is really big and made a big impression, really well done. There is also a well-equipped tennis space in Kaunas.
We talked with R. Beranki even later, he offered to play together again. At that time, he wanted to train on hard surfaces, and I was preparing for clay tournaments, so we did not meet again. However, if the opportunity arises, I would like to train with him again”, the 16-year-old shared his experience.
D. Dedura-Palomero claims to know other Lithuanian talents – both Vilias Gaubas (ATP-182) and Ed Butvilas (ATP-368). Diego had to face the latter in a club tennis doubles competition, when the 20-year-old Lithuanian celebrated his victory.
Diego says that he does not maintain contact with Lithuanian players, but he hopes that he will soon rise to the rank of Lithuanian tennis players and that more frequent communication may occur as they meet more often in tournaments.
True, although D. Dedura-Palomero tries to return to Lithuania more and more often, speaks Lithuanian perfectly and feels a strong connection with his mother’s native country, Diego does not think about representing the Lithuanian national team.
“Germany has given me a lot both as a person and as a tennis player. I receive both great support from the country and invitations to ATP tournaments. I feel really good representing Germany”, D. Dedura-Palomero said while talking to lrytas.lt.
2024-09-11 10:32:05