Báez and Cerúndolo, the “little kids” who became leaders to get excited about the Salad Bowl

The Argentine tennis team will once again play the group stage of the Finals of the Davis Cup. Between Tuesday and Sunday of next week, those led by Guillermo Coria will face in Manchester a Great Britain, Canada y Finlandwith the aim of qualifying for the grand final in Malaga in November. These three clashes will mark the return to the elite of this traditional competition after two years, since the visit to Bologna in 2022 in which Sebastian Baez y Francisco Cerúndolo They were the new faces of the team.

Today, with a few more series under their belts and two seasons of great victories and several awards on the ATP circuit, the man from Buenos Aires and the man from Buenos Aires are two different players. More mature and more confident, they will lead the light blue and white quintet in the English city, which will complete Tomas Etcheverry and the double players Maximo Gonzalez y Andres Molteni. And hours after leaving for that destination, they were encouraged to look back, remember the experience of those matches on Italian soil and reflect on the path they have traveled since then.

“We grew a lot. When you debut in the Davis Cup you feel an emotion and a pride that you feel very rarely, but at the same time a lot of nerves. You think ‘I want to do well because I don’t want to disappoint the public, the captain or the team’. Because you are not playing for yourself, you are playing for everyone. Then you get a lot of feelings and sensations in your head that are difficult to handle. I think that on my debut, in Bologna, I handled them well because I played good games. I couldn’t beat them, but I faced very tough rivals and I competed as equals against the best in the world. Today I have overcome all that internal process“Cerúndolo reflected during the team’s farewell at the Tenis Club Argentino.

And he continued: “The anxiety and nerves are still there, they are part of the adrenaline of the competition and the day you lose them, you will not want to play anymore. But with another maturity and with more experience, you manage everything differently so that don’t play against you.”

“That growth was also accompanied by what we experienced on the circuit,” added Báez. “Beyond how a Davis Cup is experienced, the rivals are the same ones we face every week, so the circuit gives you a lot of experience. It is already my third year playing the best tournaments in the world and at the highest level, which gives me “It’s giving that extra maturity. If I compare how I felt and how I was in 2022 to how I am today, I feel that there was a very big growth and that fills me with motivation to continue.”

When Argentina landed in Bologna in September 2022, Báez had just one series under his belt. He had debuted months before in the victory against Czech Republic for the Qualifiers. He was the team’s second singles player, behind Diego Schwartzman and finished with a 0-3 record after losing his matches with the Swede Elias Ymerthe Italian Matteo Berrettini and the croatian Borna Gojo. He was 37th in the ranking and had won his first title in April. Estoril.

Cerúndolo had his baptism there at Davis. He had to replace Schwartzman for the duel with Italy and debuted with a defeat against a Jannik Sinner 21 years old who was already number 11 in the world. He then fell before Borna Coric. The Buenos Aires native was 27th in the ATP rankings and had also won only one trophy, in July in Enough.

Since then, the two have established themselves among the best on the circuit. Self He reached the 18th step (today he is 23rd) and has six crowns, including that of the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro in this season. Franwhich reached 19th place (it is 29th) has won three, including the one it won on the grass of Eastbourne to end a 28-year drought without Argentine celebrations on that surface. And the two became permanent fixtures on the team. The Buenos Aires native was present in all of Davis’ matches in the last two years and scored three wins and one more loss. And the man from Buenos Aires only missed last year’s Qualifiers, against Finland in Espoo, and won the two games he has played since then.

That path made them grow, but there were two experiences that stood out above the rest. One was the shock before Kazakhstan that they played in March in Rosario for the Qualifiers, in which they suffered a lot to overcome an inferior opponent on paper.

“It was a series in which I learned a lot. We knew it was going to be difficult and we were from start to finish without being able to relax. That experience plus other series we played made us gain confidence and thus the group became stronger,” Báez reflected. , who played the last point and was responsible for sealing the 3-2 victory in the tie break of the final set of a heart-stopping fifth match.

And he added: “The nerves are always before the competition, especially representing the country. It is the most beautiful feeling that an athlete can have, it is what keeps you attentive and we like it. But with each series and with each tournament I learned to channel it more than anything off the court, which is where one can sometimes accumulate much more than on the court.”

Another competition that added a lot, especially at the group level, was the Paris Olympic Gamesin which the five who will play next week were present and Mariano Navone.

“It is not the same as the Davis Cup, but in the Games we were all able to play great tennis, enjoy the week and share more time and more days as a group, each one in his own harmony, but living the same thing. That helped the team a lot too and we still have it very fresh,” commented Cerúndolo.

“This group was going through a process and is more mature. Seba and I had to debut in 2022, at 22 and 23 years old, almost taking the reins of the team, because we played the singles ourselves. And they were our first Davis series against very tough rivals. It’s not that we had a match to gain a little confidence. Today, two or so years later, we are bigger, we generated experience in the Davis Cup, in the Olympic Games and in ATP tournaments. It was a process that I hope will continue. the future and we can capture it on the field to have some great days in Manchester. We are looking forward to it,” recalled the Buenos Aires native.

“Bologna was just two years ago, it didn’t take that long. But the boys grew and matured a lot. They didn’t come to that series with such good results or such good feelings and having to play such a tough Davis, the second of Selfthe first of Franit wasn’t easy. TO Fran He had to debut against Sinner, very tough. But they were there and took charge. From there, we also continue to strengthen teamwork, mutual trust, and the bond and communication with them and their teams, which are important when facing these challenges,” Coria analyzed.

And he closed: “Today Seba and Fran are no longer little kids. They are still young, but both they and Tomi They arrive with another responsibility because they are already established in the circuit and have earned the respect of their rivals.s. On the circuit they know that the three of them are fighters, that if they don’t have a good day, they won’t give up anyway. Manchester is going to be difficult, but they know they are here to compete and fight. “It will depend on them being well and trusting themselves.”

La fgroup ace of the Finales It will be held between Tuesday and next Sunday in four different cities. Argentina will appear at the AO Arena of Manchester, in a indoor hard courtin which it will collide with Great Britain, Canada and Finland.

Those led by Guillermo Coria They will start on Tuesday against the Canadian team; They will face the locals on Thursday and on Saturday they will close their participation against the Scandinavians. All at 13 local time, 9 from Argentina.

The series will be the best of three games. They will open with the clash between the second singles players from each country, then the duel between the best ranked players will be played and finally, the doubles.

He Group A It will be in Bologna, with Italiacurrent champion, Netherlands, Belgium y Brazil. He Bin Valencia, with Spain, Australia, Czech Republic y France. and the Cin Zhuhai (China) with Germany, USA, Slovakia y Chile.

The two best from each zone will qualify for the decisive stage, which will be held in Málaga from November 19 to 24 with a direct elimination bracket format, which will have quarterfinals, semis and finals.

Canada: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Gabriel Diallo, Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil.

Great Britain: Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie, Daniel Evans, Joe Salisbury y Neal Skupski.

Finland: Emil Ruusuvuori, Otto Virtanen, Eero Vasa, Harri Heliovaara and Patrik Niklas-Salminen.

• Captains can make changes to the squad list until the start of the official competition week.