The UNIQLO Interview: Dani Caverzaschi
Dani Caverzaschi is a busy man – he has people to see and places to be.
After turning up 15 minutes after the appointed time for this interview following a marathon three-hour afternoon training session, he declares he needs to be done by 6pm as he has another meeting.
But that is the way the 30-year-old professional wheelchair tennis player, Paralympian, entrepreneur and economics graduate rolls. He is in a rush and, as the 30-minute chat with him suggests, making up for lost time.
That is not surprising given the last couple of years. Rewind to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games – played in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and Caverzaschi was riding the crest of a wave.
He had just made history by becoming the first Spaniard to reach the quarter-finals in the Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Event – losing to Tom Egberink of the Netherlands in the last eight.
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Within a matter of weeks, he won a silver medal with Spain at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Sardinia before breaking the Top 10 of the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour Rankings in November 2021. However, things were not all they seemed.
A left wrist problem was starting to rear its ugly head and it was an injury that would sideline Madrid-born Caverzaschi for more than a year at a time when his career was starting to flourish.
“In reality, the wrist problem started right after Tokyo,” Caverzaschi told itftennis.com. “I had a very intense year and the pain got worse. After getting into the Top 10, I had to stop for a couple of months. I came back and it was okay.
“But then in April 2022 this is when it got bad, bad, bad. I was playing with cortisone injections and playing well, so well that I didn’t want to stop, especially after winning another silver at the World Team Cup.
“It was my dream to play a Grand Slam, so I really didn’t want to stop but the moment came where I literally couldn’t hold a racket. I had to go through surgery – it was terrible. In the end I had three surgeries [the last in June 2023], and it was so frustrating.
“After the first surgery I was told I could play, but then I had inflammation and this kept happening. I did everything I could to get back on court, looking at everything in detail but nothing was working. It was terrible.”
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Caverzaschi’s first-round retirement against Japan’s Tokito Oda at the US Open in September 2022 was his last competitive match until winning the Casablanca Wheelchair Open 13 months later.
A lot of soul-searching occurred in the intervening period and there were times – several in fact – when the usually ever-so-positive Caverzaschi felt there was no way back and his wheelchair tennis career was at an end.
“That did come to mind I’m not going to lie, three or four times,” said Caverzaschi. “Especially when I’m doing everything I can, but the pain keeps coming back and there is inflammation everywhere.
“People close to me have told me that they were thinking it would be hard for me to return. They had their doubts because they knew my wrist was messed up.
“But while I did have those moments, I also saw it as a challenge – a very hard challenge. I had those down moments, but I immediately snapped back and was thinking, ‘challenge, challenge, challenge’.
“I kept saying to myself, ‘I’m going to do this’, and I really believed I was going to come back and get back to my best level.”
But Caverzaschi is used to overcoming challenges. He was born missing his right femur and knee – hence why he coined the hashtag #ValeLaPierna, meaning “it’s worth a leg”. There have been plenty more hurdles to clear since but the surgeries tested him big time.
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Thankfully, however, Barcelona-based Caverzaschi is now making progress after returning to the court in October 2023, although twinges of pain in the wrist towards the end of last year brought him crashing down to earth.
Those worries seem to have subsided and with a modified style of play – he says he is now more “aggressive going inside the court” after previously being “a classical Spanish clay player” – things are heading in a positive direction.
In recent months he has chalked up a couple of Top 10 victories and has risen to No. 17 in the world rankings, suggesting he is finally free from the shackles of injury and very much looking forward.
His future is set to include a fourth Paralympic Games after previously featuring at London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. While the Paralympics have flickered within Caverzaschi’s thoughts, his eggs are not solely in one basket.
“I’m not really thinking that much of Paris, but I don’t want to respond like a politician,” added Caverzaschi, who was part of the Spain team that reached the men's final at the 2024 BNP World Team Cup in Antalya.
“I am going to do as I do in any tournament and try to win. Of course, I am also realistic that I am going to be an underdog as there are several players above me.
“I am very happy to be back on Tour and playing well. I want to continue to up my level and I want to take the next step and get back into the Top 10, then we can see where things go from there.”
The Paralympics would certainly be a fitting stage for the effervescent Caverzaschi to reaffirm his return to form and fitness. In the meantime, it is heartwarming to see one of the sport’s characters firing once more.
Long may it continue.