By Pellegrino Dell’Anno, translated by Michele Brusadelli
Hostalric is a quaint municipality in Catalonia with less than 3,000 inhabitants. It may not be known to many, but it means everything to Tommy Robredo.
It is the village where he was born almost forty years ago, and he is just as attached to it as he is to the Barcelona tournament, where he triumphed in 2004 and was runner up in 2006. No surprise it is the place he chose to bid his official farewell to tennis next month.
The Spaniard has never really recovered after the elbow injury he suffered at the beginning of 2016, but formally he is still a professional tennis player, and wishes to end his glorious career in front of his family, as he said, opening up to PuntodeBreak:
“I am thrilled about this last challenge, this last tournament I’m going to play in Barcelona, even if I will try to play in Murcia as well, so as to get some pace and match play under my belt. My last flight will be at home, that’s the way I wanted to say goodbye to the tour, even though I’ve been missing for some time. My dream was to bid farewell to the public, to my people… last year could have been an option, but with COVID and everything it involved I didn’t even consider it. I couldn’t imagine saying goodbye without my parents being in the stands, so we decided to wait another year.”
Robredo has always been a man before being a tennis player, a passionate, instinctive, genuine man – many still remember the way he celebrated his win at the Hamburg Masters in 2006, ripping his t-shirt off – and above all, still thoroughly attached and grateful to tennis:
“Tennis gave me a lot, it taught me everything, it raised me, gave me the education and values I still have. In tennis you fall and get back up every week, you learn how to win and how to lose, you rise to fame, you earn amazing money while you’re still very young, you’re constantly striving to reach your goals… What a normal person experiences in 70 years, players experience in 20.”
There were many memorable moments of Robredo’s career. He is considered one of the most important Spanish tennis players of the 21st century with his12 ATP titles and peaked at No.5 in the ATP rankings. Yet, it is curious to see how very often, Robredo’s career was defined more by a famous defeat than a victory: On October 26th, 2014, in the ATP 500 Valencia final on indoor hardcourt, he lost to Andy Murray 6-3 6-7 (7) 6-7 (8) in an epic duel which lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes and also made history with its unique epilogue: Robredo jokingly showing Andy both middle fingers instead of shaking hands, then the two players warmly embracing at the net.
Robredo himself claims this is the match of his life: “It was the cruellest match of my career but, at the same time, it is one of the matches I have the best memories of. That match was spectacular, I’ve seen it several times and I always get goosebumps. We both played at an extraordinary level, as Djokovic and Nadal did at the 2012 Australian Open final. A match with five match points that I missed, and also with Andy, someone I really appreciate. After that we flew together to Paris-Bercy in his private plane: he was celebrating with champagne and I was in the back drinking water. It is a match that I lost but that I really treasure”.
That is only one of the marathons that the Spaniard played throughout his career, thanks to his mentality: “You have to be very strong physically, and then be very tough mentally, never give up until the end. Whenever I reached the fifth set, that always gave me a chance, because that was where I felt that the opponent was not as good as me, and luckily I was able to enjoy high level tennis on many occasions in my career. This is what really counts in that kind of match, the body and the mind.”
In line with his career as a humble, working-class hero who never aimed for fame, he ends the interview taking stock of a career that has spanned over 25 years, from 1998 to 2022 and left him with no great regrets.
And he concludes on a sweet note, recalling his qualities, and making it clear that nothing is born by chance: “I gave my best, this is one of the things I’m very happy with. Even if I talk about making different decisions throughout my career, I can actually blame myself for very few things, very few players have been more professional than me on a tennis court. I remember that my friends used to go to parties in the summer while I went to bed at midnight, but I was very focused on what I wanted, and that kind of effort didn’t mean paying no price. I have always been very disciplined in this respect, my father educated me that way, he taught me to work every day to achieve my goals.”
And those goals, Tommy, rest assured you have achieved them all, especially in the hearts of those who still cherish your memories and ever will.
Barcelona is waiting for you for one last, great battle.
