From childhood rivals to Slam opponents; Etcheverry vs. Cerundolo | ATP Tour

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From childhood rivals to Slam opponents; Etcheverry vs. Cerundolo

The Argentines, who have been best friends since their infancy, discuss their clash on Wednesday

August 28, 2024

More than 15 years of matches between Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Francisco Cerundolo have often tested their close off-court relationship to the limit, but it remains intact. In fact, they were almost never friends at all. The first time they were on opposite sides of the net at an under-10s tournament in Carilo, Argentina, the loser cried for three straight days.

“I still have that chip on my shoulder!” admits Etcheverry in a chat with ATPTour.com. “I remember it was a semi-final in Carilo. We were about nine, that’s when we met for the first time. The winner was guaranteed a beautiful trophy, the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, still today. And I was really upset because I lost to ‘Fran’ after having a match point.”

The frustration of losing that shiny golden cup stayed with him as he returned home to La Plata, and for the following few days. “I cried so much that my family was worried. At some point, my dad told me not to play tennis anymore because he was seeing me suffer so much,” adds Etcheverry.

At that time ‘Tomy’ and ‘Fran’ were by no means the players they are now, with their pure power, seeking to dominate every point. At the junior event in Carilo they were just knocking the ball around and they would hit it up in the air. Cerundolo, the oldest by a year, eventually won their match in a third set. “I remember Tomy left crying. That’s the emotions at that age,” says Cerundolo. “Then I remember thousands of matches against him.”

Their rivalry, which would grow rapidly after that fateful tie in Carilo, never affected the friendship they began to build at every tournament and every trip they made together. Any disagreements they had because of their competitiveness on court have always been quickly snuffed out.

“Neither of us likes to lose, we’ve had bad rows several times. Once in a Futures tournament in Pinamar, he got angry with me and we ended up fighting,” remembers Etcheverry. “Afterwards, we had to talk about it off court to sort things out because we were both really fuming. But it didn’t go any further. In the end, we have a nice competitiveness which has helped us through the process.”

As they grew up in parallel they set themselves many goals in tennis, like becoming professionals, competing on the Argentina Davis Cup team or being doubles partners on the ATP Tour (this year they played seven tournaments on the circuit as a pair). On Wednesday they will tick another one off the list when they square off in a Grand Slam. “It’s something we dreamed of as boys,” explains Etcheverry, No. 33 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

“We’ve progressed at very similar rates,” adds Cerundolo. “We’ve been adding the stickers to our album together, and now we’re about to face each other in a Grand Slam. We’re best friends, we are together every week, we train together so much, and play in almost all the doubles events. It will be difficult because we’re so familiar with each other’s games, but it will also be an amazing match.”

“It’s always difficult to play a friend, but hopefully in this case we can put on a show,” added Cerundolo, No. 29 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

On Wednesday, apart from progressing to the third round of the US Open for the first time, Cerundolo will be looking to avenge the last match against his friend, over a year ago on the clay of Santiago.

Etcheverry will also be bidding for his best result at the New York tournament, as well as some kind of redemption for the defeat all those years ago in a junior tournament in Carilo.

Editor’s Note: This story has been translated from ATPTour.com/es.