What happened on Wednesday at the Universidad Católica Sports Center was nowhere near what happened 23 years ago at Parque O'Higgins, also in Santiago.
Although the memories appeared immediately.
After losing his ATP 250 match in the Chilean capital in the third set tie-break,
Diego Schwartzman, according to his words, had to leave the court with "six or seven security people"
after
"the amount of insults I received And that it was brutal
. "
A disputed point at the end of the final set, a discussion with Nicolás Jarry
's coach
, his adversary, and the constant whistling of the public tormented an Argentine who thus added a new defeat to his already extensive and worrying losing streak. .
But in that April of 2000 everything went haywire.
Also in a tennis match, of course.
Although for the Davis Cup.
Chile and Argentina played
.
The previous week the National Team had thrashed the Chileans in a 2002 World Cup Qualifying match.
A beer sponsored the series and he had no better idea than to give it away among the 12,000 viewers.
If something could go very wrong, it was that night of April 7.
Marcelo Ríos won the first point from Hernán Gumy and in the second,
when Mariano Zabaleta beat Nicolás Massú, a scandal broke out
.
Everything was going downhill until a ball boy wanted to hide a projectile that was thrown at the man from Tandil.
Zabaleta saw it, complained to the umpire and the people exploded.
He flew from everything.
They started with coins.
They finished with chairs
.
The father of the Argentine player was injured in the head.
The team and the fans had to leave the stadium escorted by the police.
Today there are those who say that barra bravas mixed with people and caused a war never seen before in tennis.
It was determined to play without an audience what was left of the match.
Argentina did not want to know anything.
Chile won and was sanctioned.
The images are not the same but they also happened in Santiago.
The night of April 7, 2000, in Santiago, remembered as the night of "los sillazos".
(AP)
