A historical milestone for the city, the Region and, why not, for Chile. This is how the transcendence of the Dove Men + Care Challenger Concepcion, championship tennis which will start next Monday on the Club Bellavista courts. An event that will feature world-class players, and that will be broadcast by TVU.
Horacio de La Peña, director of the event, first referred to what the fans of this sport can find, especially from the perspective of the national players who will be present at the championship.
“Gonzalo Lama was recently champion of a challenger and you will have a wild card. Alejandro Tabilo is recovering his level and we will have it full. There will be Nico Jarry, who wants to show his best again tennis, and the local Tomás Barrios, who is training so that this is his season, and will be able to play with his climate, with his people, “he said.
In addition, the “Pulga” highlighted the relevance of this event not only for the city and the country, but also for the circuit of the tennis world. This, considering the panorama of uncertainty that currently exists, with an Australian Open that begins today, “between cottons”, its new edition.
“What should be noted is that the ATP was and is suffering a lot, and when we gave them the tournament they were desperate: they didn’t know what was happening with Australia, they didn’t know what about the tournaments at the beginning of the year in South America. Y Conception He came out to rescue the tour, with the first championship, saying we will do it with a pandemic, quarantine, with whatever. And that is very valuable, and we must give the right to the mayor, the seremi del Deporte, the Bellavista Club who played it from day 1 for this tournament, “he said.
The director of Dove Men + Care Challenger Concepcion He also stressed that “the second important thing is that we are not only doing great good to tennis worldwide, but tennis South American: We are giving you tools to warm up brick dust engines. That is very relevant. After so much time training on cement, having the chance to play on clay a week before the ATPs is very good. This is confirmed by the names that will come to the tournament, and before they will be arriving ”.
De la Peña also stressed how important it is to have an event of this magnitude for the city and the Region, in the sense of the incentive that it can generate not only in the tennis community, but also in all citizens, to see a high-level championship in a penquista enclosure.
“It helps at the local level to encourage tennis, pre qualy, future practice: for Chile it is superlative to be able to have … Let’s not talk about the tournament, but about the pre qualy, where 40 people were left out, that’s how great the interest was. In doubles, the winning pair will have a wild card for the main draw of a challenger 80. We have the Biobío Tennis Association very committed, above all. All the people of the tennis, academies, very on. This we wanted to achieve in the first place. “
Marco Loyola, seremi del Deporte, referred to the relevance of the event. For this reason, it is very important to test all the protocols in advance, which could begin to be seen with the pre qualy developed until yesterday on the ClubBellavista courts.
“We started with the pre qualy recently, where we were hoping to have a regional player in the tournament table. Beyond that, I think that an event of this magnitude motivates young people a lot to develop their talents. In addition, this previous stage allowed us to test the entire global organization, the logistical issues associated with the championship: protocols, access controls and PCR taking, to comply with and maintain the isolation of the bubble ”, said Loyola.
The biggest in decades
Enrique Liberona, president of the Bío Bío Regional Tennis Association, commented that “the entire country must be invited to enjoy this tournament. We are talking about an extraordinary level event, which from the point of view of tennis It is undoubtedly registered among the most important that have ever been made in the Bío Bío Region, and therefore all lovers of the tennis they will surely be happy to be witnesses ”.
In addition, he added that “we have a team of players that would be the envy of any other championship with similar characteristics, a group of four Chileans so far led by players of the stature of Nicolás Jarry and Alejandro Tabilo, as well as a group of South American figures. and from Europe. It has been a tremendous challenge for us to host such an event, but we have prepared it with great professionalism, knowing that we have the infrastructure, as well as the technical and human capacity to carry it out in the best way, so that it stays with us. for much longer ”.
Rodrigo Canales, vice president of the Bío Bío Regional Tennis Association, highlighted the importance of the championship. A tennis event like many years ago did not have the Region.
“This is a tremendous tournament, I would dare to say that it is the most relevant that has been held in the last 25 years here in the Region, if it is not the most important. I remember the time of ’94 or ’95, around there, when the Spanish Stadium held the famous Satellite tournaments, where we also had people with very good rankings and it was the last time we had such good players playing. Then the Futuros came and where we had another ranking step as an international tournament ”.
In that sense, he added that “but having a Challenger here in these times is a tournament. It is a luxury for the Region, a luxury for the tennis environment, a true privilege ”.
Canales, along with regretting that there cannot be an audience on this occasion, also emphasized the relevance of the team that the championship will have.
“Unfortunately we were caught in the pandemic, where our people and family from the tennis penquista cannot enjoy this tremendous show. But if from the organization, as vice president of the association and responsible for the set-up of the fields, we are very happy the entire Bellavista team, congratulate the entire field team, there is a tremendous team of professionals. We are very happy and we feel part of all this. Extraordinary people will come in terms of ranking, we will have Nicolas Jarry who we hope will start his rebound here in Conception, Gonzalo Lama who just won a tournament in Egypt, not to mention what Tabilo is doing. In other words, we will have the best Chileans in Conception. It is a privilege to be here, to be part of the organizational work and also experience it as a coach of the Region ”.