Javier Martí, just 28 years old and without having officially announced his retirement as a player, makes his debut at Roland Garros as Paula Badosa's coach. He, a player about whom there was a lot of hope but six operations on the right elbow in five years cut short his career. She, the junior Roland Garros champion in 2015 and whom Those expectations led to a depression from which she recovered to be, at 22, now 87th in the world.
“In a way, we have been through the same thing. Since we were young, we live with pressure and it is difficult to deal with those expectations, although in my case it has been more of a battle against injuries since the age of 20. But Paula has left that phase behind, she is eager and has tremendous potential “, says from Paris Martí. The Madrilenian, in his childhood days, was recruited by Nike and together with Carlos Boluda they were indicated to follow the path of a certain Rafa Nadal… Big words.
Martí, in another stubborn exercise, reappeared in January and won the ITF in CairoTherefore, it has a protected ranking (290º). But your body has said enough: “To the 99.9% I will not return, because even to lead a normal life I cannot force”. While she was thinking about it, the call came from the Spanish player (born in New York) two weeks ago. They knew each other previously, they tried a week in Madrid and Martí decided to take the step towards the bench. Badosa had just broken up with Xavi Budó, the coach who took her to the top-100 and to win her first Grand Slam match this year in Australia, after making the semifinals in Istanbul.
“There is no better place than Roland Garros to start. At the age of 20 and from the previous one I got into the main draw and lost to Albert Ramos in five sets.. Then, I played two more. It is a perfect place, to which I have a lot of affection, “he remembers 'Il Loco Martí', as they nickname him. Crazy about tennis (his father Koki founded the City of the Racket in Madrid), he says he swallows” thousands of games “. He also of the WTA. “I know all of them,” he says. That is why he knows that now he has a tennis player who has not reached the ceiling.