There was a certain tension in the atmosphere. It was not for less. The press conference organized by the Argentine Tennis Association (AAT) to make the official announcement of the Olympic team that will be in the Paris 2024 Games seemed to have a single attractive focus: know the reasons for the controversial decision to leave out Horacio Zeballos, the best Argentine doubles player of all time and the first man to reach number one in an ATP world ranking -he achieved it in May-.
The news had gained significance after the advancement of this medium, which confirmed twelve days ago the resounding absence of the left-hander. During the officialization, they expected, then, any explanations you could offer Guillermo Coriathe captain of the Olympic delegation.
“The first thing I want to do is clarify that It was always decided that four singles players and two doubles players were going to go. For several months everyone knew what the conditions were,” he said at the beginning, while confirming that it was not easy to disarm “a consolidated couple” like the one formed by Andrés Molteni (18th) and Máximo González (20th).
Leader of the world doubles ranking Until two weeks ago – today it is in second position – Zeballos was relegated by the captain’s unchanged position of carrying four singles players and prioritizing a duo that, although it has its sporting merits, does not orbit the level it reached the 39-year-old from Mar del Plata during the last months together with his partner Marcel Granollers -called, with all logic, for the Spanish squad-.
Trained at the Edison Lawn Tennis in Mar del Plata, Zeballos has just reached the semifinals of Roland Garros, in the same place where the tennis discipline will be played in Paris 2024. Weeks before he had won his 21st title – a record for national tennis in doubles – at the Masters 1000 in Rome.
The “coherent” logic with which Coria made the decision, according to his own words, loses a certain verisimilitude when the discourse does not seem concomitant with what happens in reality, beyond the fact that He did express, on repeated occasions, that the determination was “one hundred percent sporting.” Molteni and González are having a good season with five titles, but So far this year they have not achieved victories against the best pairs on the tour, while Zeballos – would have formed a competitive tandem with any singles player in the fight for the medals – He is a regular at the final stages in the most prestigious tournaments of the world.
“One is there to make decisions and he leans towards what he believes is best for the country. “We are convinced that they are the best we can carry,” the captain blurted out, with some annoyance at the persistence of the journalists. Beyond the duo of Molteni and González, The former number three in the ranking made official the singles players Sebastián Báez (18th), Francisco Cerúndolo (27th), Mariano Navone (31st), Tomás Etcheverry (32nd), who complete the roster of a male branch that could have a maximum of six pieces -Cerúndolo and Etcheverry will make up the second couple. On the female side there will be Nadia Podoroska (65th) and Lourdes Carlé (86th); Once they arrive in Paris, the Argentines will know if they will be able to form a mixed doubles duo between González and Podoroska – it will be defined by ranking.
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“Unfortunately Horacio could not be in two important Davis Cup series -during the Olympic cycle-, which was when Molteni entered against Finland,” said Coria, who also maintained the position of never having hesitated to break the scheme of the four singles and the established duo. The decision, however, collides with an old statement in on which he awarded before the last Davis Cup series.
Last January, before the victory against Kazakhstan in Rosario, the Wizard announced that he was nominating Zeballos himself to turn it into eligible for the Olympic Games: the man from Mar del Plata, according to the regulations of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), I needed one more call to be part of the delegation in Paris 2024.
“In this series we summon Horacio Zeballos for two reasons. First of all because he needs to play a series to meet the organization’s requirement and be eligible for the Olympic Games. In this way the three (González and Molteni) have the same chances of being in Paris. Beyond that, Horacio obviously deserves it because he is 5th in the world, has been having incredible results, with a Masters final, and They know Machi a lot.”the captain then explained.
Two weeks later the same Zeballos had to leave due to a left shoulder injury., a situation that in any case did not modify his eligibility status because it had been available. Even, in conjunction with the AAT, made the usual formal presentation before the ITF that players usually make provided they did not meet the requirements. Why did Coria summon him if, according to his own speech, he never considered the alternative of removing a single player or dismantling the Molteni-González duo?
“We didn’t see it as a possibility to put Zeballos with a single player. Those of us who play tennis know that they do not guarantee a medal because they did not play together; nor the doubles couple. Why would we take a chance on Navone with his current year? With Tommy Etcheverry, the same,” he deepened. Navone has just had a meteoric rise: In six months, it rose from 125th place to 29th, a ranking that relegated Etcheverry to fourth place. Coria was caught between his words. The circuit is dynamic and the options change week by week: Nobody expected the growth of the Nueve de Julio man or the arrival of Zeballos to the top.
Suspicions surrounding the decision hovered for days: there were those who ventured that Perhaps it would have had a double cost for Coria leave out one of the three pieces -Etcheverry, Molteni and González- that inhabit the portfolio of players represented by the Summa Sports agency, whose high-profile reference is none other than Mariano Zabaleta, the vice president of the AAT, absent from the official press conference.
The one who was present, despite his obligations as head of the Córdoba Sports Agency, was the president Agustín Calleri, who took it upon himself to dispel, in his own way, the controversy over the apparent conflict of interest: “We always stayed on the sidelines. I support Guillermo’s decision. We do not get involved in setting up the squad. “There was always talk that there were going to be four singles and two doubles.”
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