Fernandez ready to rise to challenge at Tokyo 2020
Gustavo Fernandez hadn't appreciated just how deep he had buried the disappointment of last year's Paralympic postponement until a month ago, when he watched the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“I didn’t realise how much I missed it until then,” he said. “I realised, ‘Damn, I want to be there again’.
“After everything that happened, I put it out of my mind and put it on hold until it happened – because we didn’t know what was going to happen. That was the moment I realised I really wanted to be here, and I’m really happy that they’ve managed to put it on.”
The Argentinian is back for his third Paralympic Games, and determined to fare better than his twin singles quarter-final appearances at London 2012 and Rio 2016. A lot has happened on courts since then for the 27-year-old – much of it good: four more Grand Slam singles titles, including the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon crowns in a stellar 2019 surge, and a spell as world No. 1, which he achieved for the first time in July 2017.
“I thought I had experience in Rio, but since Rio I’ve had the best period of my career,” Fernandez said. “I think I’ve been getting a lot of important matches in these years, a lot of experience and a lot of improvement in myself – in my mind, in my body, in my tennis.”
“I feel really good, I feel great. I know the Wheelchair Tennis Tour is very competitive – we have a lot of players with the possibility to win, so that’s what makes this fun. It’s going to be a real challenge for all of us, and we know it. And that’s great – it drives us on and makes us better players.
“I’m looking forward to trying to bring the best out of myself and see if I can put myself in a position to win a medal, and hopefully to win a gold.”
The competition in the men’s singles draw promises to be fierce. Fernandez is one of seven players in Tokyo to have won Grand Slam singles titles since Rio 2016, along with Shingo Kunieda, Sweden’s Stefan Olsson, British duo Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, Stephane Houdet of France, and Belgium’s Joachim Gerard, who has won two of the last three major titles.
But as with the Tokyo heat, Fernandez is meeting the challenge head-on, determined to rise to it, and quite frankly relishing it. He insists he hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary in preparation for Tokyo, as he always expects the best of himself.
“I didn’t do much different,” Fernandez said. “With the Grand Slams and the very competitive year that we have, we always have to be at our best. So coming to the Paralympics, I didn’t do anything different. I always try to be at my best and try to be ready to perform at 100%.
“I’m used to the heat – I come from Argentina, and we’ve practice in Barcelona for the last month, where it’s been really, really hot. But here it’s the humidity is the thing that makes it different. I find it really humid – that’s challenging. But it’s a part of the game. We are all ready to deal with it and perform at a high level in these conditions. I’m ready. The heat is one more obstacle in the way.
“It’s actually really exciting to have a test like this, a challenge like this. I’m really looking forward to it.”