[ad_1]
The former tennis player, Nicolás Massú, remembered his beginnings in tennis, remembered his feat in the Athens Olympic Games 2004, He valued the importance of his mother and referred to his friendship with Fernando González and Marcelo Ríos.
In conversation with Martín Cárcamo’s program, “De Tú a Tú”, the coach today pointed out that at the age of 5 he began to play tennis, when his grandfather enrolled him in the Union Club. At the age of 11 he was already traveling the world alone.
“I traveled to do what I liked the most and at 16 I dedicated myself to tennis, so I had to mature very quickly. I had to handle different languages, cultures, money, handle myself in a world that is not so easy because it is new, having to make advanced decisions, “he said.
Doing professional sports was not so easy, especially in Viña del Mar since there were no schools for athletes. So she had to skip classes to play tournaments and then she didn’t have time to catch up. But he still got ahead in school and playing tennis.
Nicolás related that his grandfather, Ladislao Frito, He played a fundamental role for him to persist in tennis and confessed that his grandparents escaped from World War II where they were imprisoned in the concentration camps, in Auschwitz.
His maternal grandmother is 94 years old and is one of the 6 people who are still alive after having lived through the war in person.
Where does it get its claw from?
“Many people ask me how I have such a strong character, because of the claw, because of the fight, because of all those things that I do. Look at the example I have ”, He said.
The former tennis player said that when he was a child he liked having to perform both in school and in tennis training, but that excelling in the latter became a priority: “I was thinking about playing tennis all the time. He played against the wall, hours and hours and hours (…). To win me, you needed to hit me with a stick on the head, so since I was a kid I understood that ”.
Asked why he is what he most misses in the world of tennis, the former athlete declared that “I think that if there is something I miss today, it is being able to be on a court playing Davis Cup. But on the other hand, as I am a Davis Cup captain, I am there and in one way or another I have that experience ”.
In addition, Massú related that the first time he went to see a Davis Cup match at the National Stadium was when he was 13 years old. After being mesmerized by the atmosphere, the flags and the inevitable CHI, he promised himself that one day he would have to play for Chile. It was at 16 when he made his Davis Cup debut, “for me, playing for Chile is an incentive and a unique pride,” he said.
The feat of the Olympics
Nicolás Massú arrived at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games at the age of 24. At that time he was among the best in the world and the previous year, 2003, had been his best year.
“I came with another perspective of what could be done, I was thinking that something great could be achieved. Those two weeks were spectacular, ”he said.
What I rescue the most is that I was not afraid, when I had the opportunity I went in search of that. I was not satisfied, because I had all the possible excuses to be able to play that singles final knowing that I had not slept. It was very worn because with Fernando we had won the gold medal in doubles the day before. So that night I slept four hours, with all the emotion of having won the first gold medal for Chile, with all the wear and tear of the week. I was not on an equal footing, “he added.
After recounting the game, Nicolás said that after the fourth set he went to the bathroom, got his face wet, looked in the mirror and before entering the court again, between exhaustion and adrenaline, he said to himself: “Go and fight until the end of the game. final because I have to win this game anyway. You will never have this opportunity again in your life. Go and fight like a lion ”.
“When I served for the match, I looked up and asked God to let me win that point and that finally if I won it later I would never play tennis again … and then I started to injure myself”he commented between laughs.
The importance of ‘Tía Sonia’ and her friendship with Fernando González and Marcelo Ríos
If there is one person from Nicolás’s family who has not gone unnoticed, it is the Massú’s mother. “It’s fun, I always support her to the fullest, imagine, she has done commercials, she has I don’t know how many followers on Instagram, she goes to television programs. The truth is that many people ask me about her, she is very dear. It is important that the family is present at the necessary moments ”, he commented.
On the other hand, the former tennis player had words for his friendship with Fernando González and Marcelo Ríos, pointing out that both are important.
Who is your closest friend? They Asked. “Both of you, I am lucky to be friends with both of you. They are different personalities but with Fernando we burned stages together since we were very children, imagine we started playing since we were 10, 11 years old together. And with Chino it is a different relationship, he is four years older, so when he was already traveling, my first moments with a reference were with him. I looked at him as a mirror to follow ”, he closed.
[ad_2]
