No, it can not be. The audience at the Caja Mágica headquarters throws their hands to their heads in a choreographic way, fearing the worst: no, for God’s sake, another tennis player fallen in combat. The Czech Jiri Lehecka, a wonderful project player who three nights before expelled Rafael Nadal from the tournament with a fantastic performance, returns from the locker room and tries, but the pain prevents him; He digs both knees into the center of the Magic Box, looks into infinity and curses. At 23 years old and riding the powerful wave of tennis that he has surfed these two weeks in Madrid, the Czech, a closet, is forced to stop abruptly in his first semifinals on a big stage and the same misfortune that benefited him that night before – retreat from Daniil Medvedev, by the hip -, it neutralizes him now. People, then, are left with the desire again and around a quarter to nine, they progressively empty the track.
“Sorry for you, Jiri”, his rival, Felix Auger-Aliassime, dedicates to him on camera, who they say is a piece of bread, a polite and empathetic boy; That is, there is no posturing. He feels it. So he remembers his blonde colleague, the strong one, who retreats to the locker room as best he can and swearing again in Aramaic, and also the others who have ended up paying the price for an edition on which, apparently, they have exercised voodoo In the final line. “I don’t think I’m the protagonist now, but them. Jannik [Sinner] he also had to retire; Carlos [Alcaraz] He resigned from Rome today… These are crazy times at the elite of our sport, with many withdrawals in all tournaments. For me it’s strange not to have played too much and to be in the final. At least I got to play a great game against Casper [Ruud]but there is not much more to say,” says the Canadian.
It refers to the ravages of the elite and, in particular, to those of these days in a sport that offers no remedy. The world number two, Sinner, suffered it in the round of 16, who came to the San Fermín neighborhood hungry and couldn’t even jump onto the court because of his hip; In the next station, bad luck caught Medvedev, who felt a blockage during an acceleration and now fears that he will have to forget about the Foro Italico, where he triumphed last year; and in the semifinals, more cold water for the fan, who has scratched his pocket and is left without a match again. Six games have passed and the action stops, and Lehecka’s self-esteem is of no use in his attempt to return because there is no turning back. He will have to wait, then, for another occasion to show that he can end up being up there, who knows if rubbing shoulders with the strongest. Wood has.
The fact is that between so much injury and so much abandonment – Zeballos and Granollers have not been able to compete in the doubles semi-finals either due to a problem in the Argentine’s ischium – Auger Aliassime, who has been in the doldrums for a year, finds himself with a gift of bells, because he will land in the final this Sunday (6:30 p.m., Movistar+ and Teledeporte) very fresh and more than rested. Of the six obstacles that lead to the final episode, Montreal has only had to overcome three; Along the way, in addition to Medvedev and Lehecka, Jakub Mensik was also injured. Now, then, he has before him the opportunity to catch the most important trophy of his career, his first 1000; He comes to him, surely, when he least expected it. He will clash with the Russian Andrey Rublev, superior in the first semifinal to Taylor Fritz (6-4 and 6-3). For the Russian, who also salivates because this could be his second thousand, Monte Carlo last year, there are no setbacks. And he knocks on wood.
“Every day you go out on the court to play or train, it poses a risk,” says the man from Moscow in the conference room, going on: “You go full force, at maximum intensity, so in the end, it doesn’t matter what you do. . Every day is a risk. We are not lying in bed. When you feel physically well, there is less chance of something happening to you, and if you don’t do well, take care of yourself or rest, the risk increases. Each player is responsible for himself, so you have to know your body when you can push the limits or when you should slow down. Every day is a risk, in any part of life.”
Less transcendental, Auger-Aliassime foresees a “tough fight” on Sunday (6:30 p.m., Teledeporte and Movistar+). “All players have ups and downs, but he [Rublev] It is always there, almost all our matches have been three sets [4-1 favorable a su rival]. But they are always entertaining, this year we had a good fight in Rotterdam and I had several match points, so I hope it goes well this time,” says the young man. And given what we have seen, the goal of both of them may be to get out alive.
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