Pablo Cuevas is a "veteran" of the circuit. At 37, who is considered the best player in the history of Uruguayan tennis – despite the fact that he was born in Argentina – is going through the last stretch of his professional career. And although he is far from the top of the ranking and the level that led him to be top 20 in 2015, his best season, the world number 812 continues to amaze with his talent every time he steps on a court. As happened in the ATP 250 of Umag, where he could not overcome the qualy, but he was cheered after giving the public some of his magic.
It was in the first round of the qualy of the Croatian contest, which is played on brick dust. Cuevas, who entered as an alternate at the last minute to the table of the previous phase, was one point away from losing the match. His rival, the Austrian Filip Misolic, 21 years old and 129th in the ranking, took 7-5, 5-2 and 40-0, with triple match point to seal the victory. But the Uruguayan ended up taking that point with an incredible shot, which unleashed a huge ovation.
After the European's serve and an exchange of blows, Cuevas was left standing near the net and Misolic wanted to dislodge him with a balloon. The Concordia native threatened to return with a shot: he raised his head to follow the trajectory of the ball and prepared the racket for the smash. But at the last moment – and without moving his eyes from the sky – he hit a soft and effective blow between the legs, before the pique, and left the ball almost asleep on the other side of the net.
The Austrian, surprised, tried to run to see if he could return the shot, but he stopped when he realized that he had no chances and congratulated his rival from a distance. Anyway, Misolic ended up taking the game in that same game.
"Of the last ones left," Cuevas wrote in a post on his Instagram account, along with a video of the play, which is a "registered signature" of his repertoire.
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A post shared by Pablo Cuevas (@pablocuevas86)
What's more, on January 1, the account of Tennis TV, one of the official channels of the ATP, congratulated him on his 37th birthday with a video in which he is seen winning a point with the same shot he made in Umag. It had been in the final of Estoril 2019 that he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas. "No one saw it coming," the post said. And he wished a happy birthday "to the magician".
Although not always the "trick" goes well for the Uruguayan. After the one he made in the Umag qualy went viral, a user recalled that in that same 2019, weeks after doing it against the Greek, he had tried unsuccessfully (he could not pass the ball to the other side of the net) in the clash against Dominic Thiem in the first round of Hamburg. He was also applauded for his effort and ingenuity.
Cuevas reached the 19th step of the ranking in August 2016 and has won six titles at the ATP level. The most important was the one he conquered that same year at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro, where he had the pleasure of beating Rafael Nadal in the semis, to be crowned later with a triumph in the final against Guido Pella. The Uruguayan also won doubles at Roland Garros 2008 with Peruvian Luis Horna.
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