Mago Coria is no longer the captain of the Davis Cup team

The cycle is over Guillermo Coria leading the Argentine team Davis Cup. After three years as captain and days after the Albiceleste team’s passage through the Final 8 of Malaga, in which he fell in the debut fighting against Italy, the Dry He left his position this Monday. As announced by the Argentine Tennis Association“it was a decision of common agreement” after a meeting between the man from Santa Fe and Agustín Calleripresident of the organization.

The former world number three had taken over in October 2021 and at the end of 2023 there were doubts about whether the relationship would be renewed. But he finally signed an extension to his contract for another year.

In the time he spent on the Argentine bench, the team played eleven series, with a record of five wins and six losses. After debuting with a resounding 4-0 home win against Czech Republic in the Qualifiers 2022, they had four defeats in a row, three in the group stage of that year’s Finals in Bologna (Sweden, Italia y Croatia) and one more in the Qualifiers February 2023 before Finlandwhich left him on the verge of relegation.

The overwhelming 3 to 0 against Lithuania in the BALTC it guaranteed continuity in the elite. And the great performance that the Albiceleste rackets had in the Santiago 2023 Pan American Gamesin which the man from Santa Fe was at the head of the team along with Mercedes Paz -one gold, one silver and three bronzes- finished convincing the AAT to extend their contract.

This year, after walking along the ledge in the duel of Qualifiers ante Kazakhstan in Rosario, emerged victorious from the Group Stage of Manchester, where they started with a defeat against Canadabut he later beat Great Britain already Finlandto get back into the top eight in the world, for the first time since 2019.

And in the playoff which was played last week in Malaga, lost in the quarterfinals against Italy Jannik Sinner y Matteo Berrettiniwho then lifted the trophy, giving up just one point in the entire tournament, which Cerúndolo beat Musetti at the start of the series.

In his three years at the head of the team, Coria called up ten players, Tomas Etcheverry, Sebastian Baez, Francisco Cerúndolo, Maximo Gonzalez, Andrés Molteni, Horacio Zeballos, Diego Schwartzman, Federico Coria, Pedro Cachin y Facundo Bagnis. And he managed to consolidate a team with three singles players -Báez, Francisco and Etcheverry- and two doubles players –Machi y Very– of a good level, although there is still plenty of room for improvement.

The growth that the team showed on the court was somewhat overshadowed by the departure of Zeballos, when the man from Mar del Plata was number one in the world in doubles, due to differences between the player and the captain. The absence in the last series of the last two years of Onion -which was also left out of the Paris Olympic Games in which the Magician was in charge of the team – left Coria at the center of criticism and generated many questions about his management.

“We are a young team, with turnover especially in the singles, and we tried to isolate ourselves from the criticism. We did not understand why they were so effusive, with so much malice. You also have to know where that criticism comes from. Sometimes it seems that politics is mixed with sports. I think we didn’t have a series that you say: ‘It was a failure’. Maybe with Sweden we should have won, but all the others we won and lost against teams that have beaten us very well and against whom we have beaten very well,” Coria told Clarín before traveling to the Final 8, referring to the negative judgments about your cycle.

After returning from Spain, the Magician sat down to chat with the AAT to evaluate whether or not he continued in his position. And finally it was decided to end the relationship.

“We are very grateful to both Guillermo and his main collaborators, Leonardo Mayer y Martin Garciafor these years leading the team. We consider that his work went from least to greatest, consolidating a group of young players who will bring many joys to Argentine tennis in the coming years. We wish them the greatest success and invite them to continue working together for the development of our sport,” commented Calleri.

As unofficially revealed, the AAT board of directors has already begun to evaluate names to succeed him. Will there be an announcement before the draw that will be held next Monday in London and that will define who will be the Argentines’ rival in the Qualifiers February of next year?