Baslerin conquers Spanish hearts

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Tennis fans in Madrid rub their eyes in surprise. What happens now? Rebeka Masarova, only present at the Masters tournament thanks to a wild card, stunned with another great performance. After her opening win against Cristina Bucsa, the 23-year-old also cheated Donna Vekic, the world number 23, with a 6:1, 7:6 victory and is in round three.

Masarova stretches out her arms in disbelief and lets her home crowd cheer. It is the provisional culmination of a remarkable start to the season, which saw them enter the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time. And the current pinnacle of an eventful career that began in Switzerland.

Masarova, daughter of a Spaniard and a Slovak, was born in Basel. For a long time she was regarded as one of Swiss Tennis’s greatest young talents. In 2016 she became the first Swiss after Martina Hingis and Belinda Bencic to win the Roland Garros junior tournament.

In the same year, however, she had a shocking experience: on the way to a tournament in Clermont-Ferrand (Fr), her family’s minibus had a serious accident. The car ends up on the roof completely demolished, but like a miracle, Masarova, her mother and her brother escape almost unharmed: “Then we just stood there and hugged each other. We couldn’t believe it. Everything was broken into a thousand pieces and we only had a few minor scratches. It could have been our last day, but for God it shouldn’t have been,” she told Blick at the time.

The nadir after the change

Masarova made headlines again in early 2018 when she – not without background noise – suddenly switched countries to Spain. A huge surprise to many in the Swiss tennis scene. The misunderstanding spread, questions arose. The young tennis player as the victim of a family decision? At one point, Masarova reported on Facebook, writing: “As an athlete, you are free to decide which country you want to represent. There can be several reasons for this. In my case, the decision came from the heart.”

But the change was not initially crowned with success. In Switzerland she completely disappeared from the radar, in Spain she flew below 400 as a talent anyway. Difficult years followed, characterized by injuries and Corona. But also of a new beginning, after the divorce from her mother on a business level and the move to Barcelona. Looking back, her coach Pipo Maresma told the Spanish portal “Puntodebreak” in 2021: “She has undergone physical torture. But we are confident in her abilities and hope that she will bring us a lot of pleasure in a few years.”

And indeed: she took off in early 2023, sensationally stormed into the final of the 250 tournament in Auckland – and came 74th in the WTA ranking.

“Huge Load Lost”

In Madrid, she is now continuing her steep climb and may play in round three against world number nine Maria Sakkari (27) on Saturday. The Spaniards are delighted. Meanwhile, Masarova says in a broad Basel dialect: “After the big jump at the beginning of the year, a huge burden fell on me. I am very satisfied!”

After the challenging years of recent years, she is enjoying her high in Madrid to the fullest. The fuss about the change of nations is over for her, but the connection with Switzerland is still strong. Albeit because her family still lives in Basel. Because she occasionally trained with Jil Teichmann (25/WTA 30) in Barcelona. Or simply because she says: “I will continue to carry both countries in my heart.”

Source : Blick