On August 2, Victor Estrella, one of the greatest athletes in the history of Dominican sports and the best in his discipline, turned 42 years old. Víctor will have enough reasons to celebrate another year of life, doing what he loves, for once again, which is playing tennis.
Estrella Burgos will come out of retirement to return once again to the courts at the RD Open, which will take place from August 15 to 21, on the green clay courts of the Santo Domingo Tennis Club (La Bocha).
Estrella has been linked to this event since its inception, dating back to 2015. And he has also been the only winner of the tournament in both modalities (doubles and singles) in 2017, when he faced the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who was #23 of the world in the year 2018 and that will play again in this edition.
The Santiago native requested an invitation to the event, which was accepted and will have the opportunity to play via wildcard, in the doubles modality, where he will have as a partner his long-time friend, also a native of Santiago, Peter Bertran, (second best racket in the country) and who grew up in tennis under the same influence as Víctor.
-The last event disputed by Estrella at a professional level was the Santo Domingo Challenger in 2019, the year in which he officially retired.
Michael Monegro, press director of the event, describes Víctor’s return to the courts as an event of great value for sports in general and for all lovers of Dominican tennis.
“Having the opportunity to see Víctor, the greatest tennis player in our country, once again in this tournament where he was already champion, is very special and significant for local tennis and especially for future generations,” said Monegro.
Hardt and Bertrán will also participate in singles
Along with the duo of Estrella and Bertrán, there is also Nick Hardt, number one racket in the country, who leads the representation of the Dominican Republic in the contest and has already confirmed his participation in the singles modality. While Bertran, until now, is the only one with guaranteed participation in both modalities.
Star Figures
The sixth edition of the tournament, which had not been held for two years, is the most important ATP challenger event in all of Latin America. And for this opportunity, it presents the largest number of players within the top 100 of the ATP, who belong to that lineage of world tennis or who have been within that exclusive group.
At the close of registration for the tournament that ended on July 25, Hugo Dellien (70), Tomás Etcheverry (72), Federico Coria (73), Roberto Carballés Baena (86), Pedro Cachín (90) and Daniel Galán (99 ) are among the first hundred tennis players in the current ATP ranking who will participate in the tournament.
Other players who were part of the top 100 who will see action in the tournament are Damir Dzumhur (ex 23), Federico Delbonis (ex 33), Gastao Elias (ex 57), Gerald Melzer (ex 68) and Pedro Sousa (ex 99).
