SANTIAGO, Chile — The return to Chile of the country’s most important tennis trophy was a success. The celebration organised by CLAY for the arrival of the cup that Anita Lizana won in 1937 at Forest Hills, held at the Centre Court of the Estadio Nacional, was a tribute full of emotion and history.
It took 89 years for Chilean sport’s holy grail to reach the country, donated by the player’s family, who travelled from the United Kingdom to deliver the treasure that Lizana received in New York after becoming the first Latin American to win an individual Grand Slam title.
“Anita vuelve a casa” (Anita is coming home) was the name chosen to celebrate the arrival of the historic trophy. The event honoured the story of a player who began on the courts of the Santiago district of Quinta Normal and went on to claim glory at the tournament then known as the United States National Championships. In that final she defeated Polish player Jadwiga Jędrzejowska 6-4 and 6-2.
The celebration of Lizana’s life and career brought together different generations of Chilean tennis. Her youngest daughter, Carol Ellis Lizana, was accompanied by her husband, her three daughters, two sons-in-law and three granddaughters. Among those present were the Under-Secretary for Sport, María Paz Ríos; the president of the Chilean Tennis Federation, Juan Bugueño; national tennis figures Carmen Ibarra, Patricio Cornejo and Hans Gildemeister; Chile’s wheelchair tennis No. 1, Macarena Cabrillana; and the directors of the country’s two most important tennis tournaments: Catalina Fillol (Chile Open, ATP) and Macarena Miranda (WTA 125 de Colina). Ibarra and Cabrillana were given the honour of symbolically receiving the trophy on behalf of Chilean tennis.
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The reception left Lizana’s family astonished. “What I see is so great — the love for Chile, for Anita, for what she did. The people here want her legend to live on. It is very important that it keeps growing, for sport and for Chile. What has happened here is extraordinary. I was not expecting this at all,” Ellis Lizana, the champion’s youngest daughter, told CLAY.
For Carmen Ibarra, the first Chilean player to compete in Grand Slam tournaments after Lizana, receiving the trophy carried special meaning. “It is a source of pride for Chilean tennis that Anita’s family brought this trophy here. It is something precious and deeply moving,” said the former player, who also recalled a family connection to the Forest Hills champion: “My father, who was a tennis coach, was able to spend time with Anita during some training sessions while she was in Chile.”
Patricio Cornejo, a member of the Chilean team that reached the Davis Cup final in 1976, also had a personal reason to attend. He recalled the influence that Ricardo Lizana, Anita’s father and a tennis coach, had on his own career. “One of the reasons I came was because a large part of my sporting career I owe to her father,” he explained.
“I had the pleasure and the good fortune of knowing her wonderful family. She is a historic figure who had the distinction of winning what is now the US Open. Thanks to this, someone can be inspired, can see her and get to know her,” Cornejo added, highlighting the value of bringing Lizana’s story to new generations.
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Catalina Fillol, Chile Open’s tournament director, underlined the importance of making the Chilean champion’s story visible, especially given the obstacles she faced as a woman in the sport of her era. “It is an honour. Being able to talk about Anita and her achievements is something very positive for sport in every sense. Being able to see that something like this can be achieved, especially given the adversity Anita faced as a woman travelling alone in her time, is proof that barriers can be broken,” she said.
“History must be told, shared and made visible. There is never a bad time to keep celebrating, and the more occasions there are to do so, the better,” Fillol told CLAY.
Sebastián Varela, co-founder of CLAY, reflected on the outcome. “It was a great success. Emotions were running high. It was worthy of what a legend deserves. Anita Lizana is our great champion, the greatest female tennis player in the history of Chile,” he said.
“It was a collaborative effort between the CLAY team and the Lizana family, the result of relentless work. Our collaborators were key, as were the production company Ditecsur, Technogym, Lavazza and EBR Soluciones. We brought together players who gave so much to Chile, and everyone left very happy. Justice is done for the memory Anita deserves,” added the journalist, who led the efforts to finally bring Chilean tennis’s lost treasure home.
