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Of course, the birthplace of Nadia Podoroska already promises great feats. Finally, Lionel Messi rose from Rosario to become the king of soccer, and the famous revolutionary Che Guevara also saw the light in the Argentine metropolis.
But that tennis player Podoroska should one day achieve something historic had not indicated much. And yet the 23-year-old has immortalized herself in the history books of her sport with her semi-finals at the French Open. (Schedule and results of the 2020 French Open)
Podoroska is world number 131, making his way up the Roland Garros standings and winning a main round match at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. But after advancing to the semifinals, no qualifiers had been successful in professional tennis history since 1968 in Paris.
Podoroska beats Svitolina in the quarterfinals
After her quarterfinal upset against number three seed Elina Svitolina, Podoroska was asked if she had to pinch herself. “No,” he answered boldly, “I don’t want to wake up yet.”
Paris’ fall dream trip shouldn’t be in Thursday’s semi-finals against 19-year-old Polish Iga Swiatek (French Open, semi-finals: Iga Swiatek – Nadia Podoroska on Thursday starting at 3pm at the LIVETICKER), I would have also expected very few there. finish. There has never been a final qualifier in the history of the four biggest tennis tournaments in the world.
Even more than two years ago there was absolutely nothing to suggest such a fairy tale, on the contrary: Podoroska could not even have allowed a trip to Paris.
Threatened early retirement
He was out for eight months due to an injury to his right wrist, and financial reserves no longer allowed for expensive trips to tournaments. The end of my career was not far away. “I had too many injuries and I fell in the ranking,” he said: “That was the most difficult moment.”
But Podoroska kept fighting and returned to the field in March 2018, turned everything around and parted ways with his longtime coach.
Now he lives in Alicante, Spain, and he no longer has to worry about money. Even reaching the semifinals brought him 425,000 euros into his account; In his entire career he had won almost 260,000 euros in prizes.
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Sabatini is happy for Podoroska
A win over Swiatek would only add almost 400,000 euros more. And Podoroska will also make a big leap in the world rankings. He started the year as number 255 and after the French Open he will be in the top 50.
Argentine tennis icon Gabriela Sabatini is already on the moon. “Thank you for continuing to cheer,” the 50-year-old wrote on Twitter to Podoroska.
Since her 1990 US Open victory over Steffi Graf, Sabatini has been the only Argentine Grand Slam winner in women’s singles. I could have company on Saturday.
