Having Rafael Nadal in Chile for an ATP event would be great - Organizer
Santiago de Chile will host an ATP 250 event in late February next year, being the last calendar tournament during the South American swing. The Tournament Director Catalina Fillol was asked what's her dream. "If it's a dream from my heart, I immediately tell you Rafa Nadal, it would be a dream to have him playing a tournament here in Chile again, but it's from my dream", admitted Fillol recognizing that it will not be easy. "You need to set short term goals, from here to February you have to work on the courts, that have to be in the best condition, make the crowd easily get into the stadium, the locker room is already ready, the player will feel super comfortable, safe, the distance he needs to walk by is short. And there will also be an important commercial area with food and entertaining activities."
On the challenges of hosting an ATP 250 during the same week as Acapulco and Dubai that belong to ATP 500 categories, with the Davis Cup qualifiers taking place in March, Fillon said: "We would have liked another date but when we got this option, we said that we had to take it because there are no more chances or opportunities. What is on our side is that it's the last tournaments week on clay and there are players who prefer this surface before heading into the hard courts."
The former world No. 1 doubles player Todd Woodbridge spoke about the elbow injury that forced Nick Kyrgios to skip the recent Davis Cup rubber: "I believe it was pre-existing because the last time he played at Laver Cup the same thing he happened, he played a couple of good matches, was due to play Rafael Nadal on the final day and didn't play and sat on the bench. Same thing has happened here in Madrid, he played two very good matches in the group stage, but when we really needed him, he wasn't there."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2DyXzyv
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