The UNIQLO Interview: Targeting Tokyo

Martin de la Puente made his Paralympic debut in Rio, but the prospect of earning his place in the line-up for Tokyo excites Spain’s current world No.13 just as much, if not more.

“For me qualifying to compete at the Paralympic Games was a dream, I never thought I was going to make it. Competing in Tokyo, in my second Paralympics would be amazing,” says de la Puente, who was just 17 when he made his Paralympic debut in 2016.

“I've worked a lot for this to happen, I moved to Barcelona, to the High Performance Centre, I looked for a new coach, I left my family and friends from Vigo. To become a pro tennis player was a dream since I was a child so I'm enjoying what I'm doing every day.”

Should he go on to earn his place at Tokyo 2020 after the qualification window ends next June, de la Puente says the experience he gained in Rio, where he reached the second round of the men’s singles before bowing out to now world No.1 Gustavo Fernandez, would prove invaluable.

“I think from competing at Rio I learnt that anything can be possible in that week. For me, Rio was very special because of all the tournaments I played for qualifying, because of my age, because (at that time) it was maybe the biggest event that I was ever going to participate in. Maybe my main goal was qualifying and I didn't put much pressure on the competition,” says the former world No. 1 junior and three-time Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters champion.

“But I think in Tokyo it's going to be different. I'm in a different position. My game, it's different, I even think I'm different. I'm playing differently than at the last Paralympics. My mentality will be, as usual, to enjoy it, but to but giving everything on court.”                                             

While de la Puente bowed out to Gustavo Fernandez in Rio, his move from his home in Vigo to Barcelona, at the age of 18, was focused on being able train under the guidance of Fernandez’s coach Fernando San Martin. Another player to have worked with San Martin, Argentina’s national coach, is Maria Florencia Moreno.

Moreno recently contested the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games, alongside countryman Fernandez. The regional multi-sport games provided the opportunity for the winner of the men’s and women’s singles to qualify for Tokyo 2020. And while Fernandez did just that for the third time, Moreno’s hopes of doing the same ended with the women’s singles second seed exiting the event in her very first match.

However, the 30-year-old continues her bid to qualify for Tokyo and is currently world No. 14 after what has been an encouraging season to date. Moreno says:

“To qualify for a Paralympic Games would be to fulfil one of my dreams and achieve a great goal for which I am working very hard. I think I'm progressing very well. From last year until now I am making great progress in my tennis level. Gradually all the work we have been doing is giving its results.”

Moreno certainly has been achieving some fine performances this season, most notably at the ITF 2 Series Open de Vendee in France.

“My best performance (singles) performance this year was the Vendee Open, where I could win the tournament, but in addition to that I beat three Top 10 players and the number 5 in the world - and then Parapan American Games in Lima, where in doubles with my partner Nicole Dhers we got the bronze medal.”

Among the players that Moreno beat at the Open de Vendee was Italy’s Giulia Capocci, the Argentinian defeating Italy’s world No. 5 7-5 7-5 in the final in France.

At the time of the Rio Paralympics in 2016, Giulia Capocci was barely seventh months into her first season on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour. Formerly a talented non-disabled player, Capocci started playing wheelchair tennis after becoming disabled because of complications following a knee surgery.

Since then Capocci has made rapid progress in the sport and this season has completed a full set of appearances at the four Grand Slam tournaments, reaching her first Grand Slam final in the women’s doubles at Wimbledon. It’s experience that is likely to stand Capocci in good stead for any Paralympic Games debut.

“Having the opportunity to play the Grand Slam tournaments was an immense emotion. you certainly learn to handle situations and emotions that in those fields are at a very high level,” says Capocci.

“The transition from playing tennis to wheelchair tennis was not easy, but with the work everything is possible.”

The 2019 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour has seen two young Dutch players, Sam Schroder and Niels Vink, win their first Super Series titles during what has been a memorable summer for the quad division. For Schroder, earning qualification for Tokyo 2020 would be extra special after he underwent treatment for colon cancer that resulted in him having to take time out from the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour. Schroder missed the last third of 2017, returning to competition in July 2018. 

“After everything that has happened in the past two years I think, for me, being able to compete at the Paralympics would be a great reward for all the hard work I have so far put into realising my dream to represent my country and fight for a medal,” says Schroder.

“I think it's always different playing against the top players of the world, there's a whole different mental aspect to it. Having played these guys so often during the past year has helped me get stronger mentally, and has shown me what I need to improve on if I want to compete with them.”

Currently world ranked No. 5, reigning BNP Paribas Open de France champion Schroder, adds:

“When I was unable to play tennis during my treatment for colon cancer, it made me realise how important it is to take good care of your body, so I've become a lot more aware about the signals my body is sending me and how I need to respond to those signals.”

While Schroder is a former world No. 1 ranked junior player, Russia’s Viktoriia Lvova is also making a name for herself in the senior women’s game after formerly being a top ranked junior.

“I’ve been playing tennis since I was ten, and the main purpose of my life is to get to the Paralympic Games. I shall do my best (to qualify) and win a gold medal,” says Lvova as she also explains her route into wheelchair tennis. “A coach came to our school and invited me to play tennis. I tried to play and I was getting good at it. I liked tennis and I continued training.”

Lvova, who turns 21 next month, understandably counts “winning at the Junior Masters of 2015 and 2016” among her most notable achievements to date. Meanwhile, the Ariake Tennis Stadium in Tokyo, the host venue for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Tennis Event, already has special memories for Lvova after she was part of Russia’s women’s team that claimed fourth place at the 2016 BNP Paribas World Team Cup.

As wheelchair tennis’s qualification window for Tokyo 2020 continues until next June, there is much to play for over the coming months and players, their coaches, families and friends will go through a multitude of ups and downs.

It’s a process that de la Puente went through in the lead up to Rio 2016 and he remains overwhelmingly grateful to his family for their support.

“My family always pushed me to the limits. trying to find a sport for me. I tried swimming, water polo, going to the gym on my own, and wheelchair basketball. Suddenly my brother’s tennis coach Hector Vazquez reached Alvaro Illobre, the five-time Spanish champion, and he was the one that introduced me to wheelchair tennis,” said de la Puente.

“I'm not going to lie, at the beginning when I saw the wheelchair I didn't want to sit in it. But I tried, I liked it, and here I am."