Rodrigo Pacheco: “Emotions got the best of me”.
- The young Mexican shared his experience competing at the Arena GNP Seguros in his first match at a ATP 500 level.
- Pacheco accepted that the crowd helped him but it was also a huge pressing factor during his match.
Acapulco, February 28th – The desire to see a Mexican in the second round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC will still have to wait. Rodrigo Pacheco lost to Alex De Minaur in the first round and after the duel he shared how he lived one of the most important nights of his career so far.
“When I entered the court it was very nice, it was incredible, I felt a nice and beautiful energy, such a great emotion and huge adrenaline when everyone was cheering for me. The fans were very nice today, they applauded me so much and showed me how much they loved me. In the end, things didn’t work out, but I’ll keep all the good things from the match,” said Pacheco.
Rodrigo recalled that last season he had an invitation to the qualifying round and that in the Los Cabos Open he made his debut in the ATP Tour. However, he considers his match against Alex De Minaur to have been the best of those three experiences so far.
“Today I played much better than last year and than in Los Cabos (…) I had never played in a stadium as big as this one and even less with this much crowd. The truth is that it could have worked against me a little bit (…) At my young age, sometimes I don’t know how to turn that into something positive, how to relax”, accepted the Mexican.
Regarding his level, Pacheco acknowledged that he faced one of the best players in the world and despite the score, he felt competitive during the match. He also recalled that he is still one of the best juniors in the world and that he hopes to be able to transfer that to the professional circuit at some point.
“Emotions got the best of me, I put a little more pressure on myself than I should have (…) I did get very nervous more than anything because I wanted to give a great performance to the whole crowd. Sometimes I worry a lot about things I shouldn’t worry about and I put huge pressure on myself. I thank all the public for the cheers and for giving me that great match because they helped me but sometimes I just backfires on myself for the same reasons,” Rodrigo finished.
Pacheco said that for this year he will try to stay in the junior tournaments but he will also continue to play in the Challenger circuit to keep collecting more ATP points. Surely his next experience at a ATP level will come again at Los Cabos Open.