Who is Thiago Tirante, the man who caused one of the biggest upsets in the run-up to the US Open by knocking out Novak Djokovic in Cincinnati? Tirante, an Argentine, is a tennis optimist, someone who, with a single sentence, calls into question the atmosphere of complaints, tensions and dissatisfaction that is growing amongst players.
“There are people who don’t have enough to eat; at some point, as a tennis player, you have to be happy with what you’re doing,” the Argentine sums up.
Tirante sat down for a chat with CLAY during Roland Garros, a fascinating conversation that reveals the 25-year-old Argentine is something of an outsider on the sporting scene – a tennis optimist.
– Argentina has ten players in the world’s top 100 – how do you explain that, in terms of the passion they put into tennis?
– Yes, yes, one hundred per cent. We’ll always have that and we’ll never lose it, because that’s the Argentine way. We give our all – and more – to everything we do. We’re very emotional; Europeans and Americans aren’t quite so much. And that’s something that will always work in our favour if we know how to manage it, because it often works against us too. But it’s something we’ll always have with us: wanting more, wanting to improve, wanting to succeed, come what may. And that makes us unique and very strong.
– Let me broaden the question to South American tennis: in recent times, alongside the usual contingent of Argentines, Chileans and Brazilians, players from Peru, Paraguay, Colombia and Bolivia have joined the fray. Why is South American tennis growing so much?
– I think we’re starting to believe in ourselves a bit more. We’ve always had good results; we’re great tennis players – South America has great tennis players. But I think we’re losing our fear of the surfaces. Today, there are more South American players who perform better on fast surfaces. And on clay, we’re getting stronger and stronger. We’re feeding off each other’s success and motivating one another. If one of us does well, the others get motivated too and say to themselves, ‘Ah, if he can do it, so can I!’ We’re pushing ourselves to play better and better tennis.
– Even so, it seems that many tennis players don’t enjoy the fact that they’re tennis players, despite having fulfilled their dream of making a living from playing tennis. Do you allow yourself to enjoy it, even whilst you’re playing?
– Yes, yes, of course! You have to bear in mind that I have two psychologists – one who focuses more on the personal side and one who focuses more on the tennis side. We reflect a lot and talk a lot. Enjoying it is the key to playing for more years, to playing more without it weighing so heavily on you. Although it’s clear that every player is different. After all, we’re travelling all year round, training all year round, playing all year round, far from our families, and if you don’t look at it from the perspective of enjoyment, if what you do doesn’t fulfil you, it’s going to be difficult to stick with tennis for very long. Tennis is about doing what you love, because there’s a reason you chose it. And it may be that you choose it from a different perspective, rather than the one people sometimes assume.
– What is that other perspective?
– Being healthy is incredibly rewarding. There are lots of people who are ill, and often, when you’re on court or in training and things aren’t going your way, you pull a face and get in a bad mood.
Yes, maybe you’ve trained badly, but perhaps you’re not seeing the other side of things – telling yourself, ‘Hey, I’m in Paris, I’m playing in the best tournaments in the world, on the best surfaces; they give us balls, they give us towels, they give us water – everything – and there are people who might genuinely not have enough to eat.’ If you look at it from that angle, at some point, as a tennis player, you’ve got to be happy with what you’re doing. With what you’re experiencing and what you’ve been given today, thank God. Perhaps we need to step back a bit from the tennis player’s mindset – of wanting, wanting and wanting – and see it more from the perspective of being happy with what you’ve got. Having a good time, enjoying yourself and being in the moment is incredibly rewarding.
– In that context, do you understand the debate over prize money distribution in tennis? Do you think it’s fair?
– I think it’s fair, I think it’s fair. After all, we’re getting a very small percentage compared to what the Grand Slams take. I’m in favour of the top players, the leading players, starting to speak out and make it clear that we’re unhappy. I think what they’re doing is right.
