If you fail the plan, you plan to fail
Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena
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–It was Qinwen who called me –Pere Riba (35) tells me.
And this is how Pere Riba, who had been an elite tennis player, ranked 65th in the ATP in 2011, and had also trained Pedro Martínez Portero and Roberto Carballés, began to become interested in Zheng Qinwen.
It was then August 2021, and Zheng Qinwen (21) was 18 years old, and had been the sixth junior in the world. The thing is, as a senior, she had been stuck for a while.
Justita was going to be Top 200.
So I was looking for ways out.
-And what did you do? –I ask Pere Riba.
–I started analyzing his videos. I confess that he did not know her. I had her come to my workplace and gave her a two-week trial. She came with her mother. I communicated with Qinwen in English and with her mother through WeChat: her mother only spoke in Chinese. The application did the translations for us.
-And it worked?
–The first week I went to see my father and I told him: 'I'll put it number 1.' And my father answered me: 'You are always so motivated...'. Anyway, you already saw what was happening this January, at the Australian Open: Qinwen played in the final (she only lost there, against Aryna Sabalenka). And since then, my father tells me: 'How right you were.'
(Pere Riba, the father of Pere Riba who stars in this Vuelta y Vuelta, worked at TV3 and covered the Barcelona '92 Games and had also been a tennis player, perhaps his son's tennis driving force).
–But what did you see in her?
–The ability to work, the ethics... I told her: 'Do this,' and she insisted and insisted until it worked. I doubt very much that I will find someone who will go so hard with me. She pulled more than me. She was zero lazy. She didn't wear me out going to work. And with that you have already gone halfway.
–Is this the mental structure of the Chinese athlete?
–Of course, the oriental has a different mentality. There are good things there and others not so much. The oriental is good at reproducing an exercise or a movement. But he has more limitations when understanding the game, when reading it.
–Give me examples.
–The oriental can give you 3,000 rights. He doesn't mind repeating them. The Westerner does not have that ability to repeat a gesture. But he understands the game.
–Is that corrected?
–If you make a Chinese, with his work ethic, understand positional play, where to position himself after executing a shot to better follow the play... then it can be extraordinary.
–Is it difficult for oriental people to improvise?
–Variability and decision making confuse you more. When she started with me, Qinwen hit her hard from any position. He did not distinguish between attack and defense. I had to teach him to be patient and repeat judiciously. I had to teach him a tactical scheme for each moment, when to attack depending on the height of the ball that was coming at him. She understood it.
–There was no wear?
–Then I was 32 years old. I had retired as a tennis player two years earlier. I was frustrated because of my injuries, I had three hernias, I had had surgery on both hips and the abductors. I came from being a player, with my egos, and I clashed with her quite a bit. I decided to learn as I went. I had to adapt to Qinwen in order for Qinwen to adapt to me. Luckily, she was young. The older a tennis player is, the more difficult it is to change her habits. Although things got complicated in June 2023: Qinwen fell in the second round of Roland Garros and I stepped aside. We had not reached the committed objective.
In the meantime, Coco Gauff knocked on Pere Riba's door.
If Zheng Qinwen is the Chinese hope, Gauff is the American hope.
–I couldn't say no: on June 21 I started taking Gauff. In September he won the US Open...
–What did he do with her?
–I made her rotate from further back, I changed the height of her forehand, I made her be more aggressive with the serve. The thing is that my mother got sick, I felt like I should be with her and I couldn't guarantee Gauff that I would follow her around the world. I focused on my mother, and when everything was organized, she called me Qinwen again. 'I trust you,' she told me. 'And I in you,' I told him. With my sister taking care of my mother, I was able to return to Qinwen.
And this is your present.
With Zheng Qinwen as the world's eighth racket.
And taking off.
