“We all want Lucciana Pérez to be the next link to Laura Arraya” | OPINION

When Jaime Yzaga did what he did it was 1985 and there was neither internet nor networks so that one could see him quickly with the trophy in hand. It was a cable from the defunct UPI agency that informed El Comercio of his victory at that Roland Garros Junior. At just 18 years old, he was already our rising star.

And although as a professional Yzaga won a little less – he was still 18th in the world – he did achieve a significant “parallel championship”: that of being an example and reference for subsequent generations. The child grows up against an achievable model, and if that model wins, the effect is multiplier.

Unlike other more frequent crack sports, in tennis the figures come out very occasionally. The average of one top player every 15 years since the 1990s in Peruvian men’s tennis is not ideal by any means, but in women it is even more spaced out. Since the retirement of Laura Arraya (14 in the world) the female has not had weight in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association).

The lack of a real promotion and sponsorship policy for tennis players when they want to enter professionalism after being successful juniors is one of the endemic evils. Several races stopped there and In a way, this explains why we are good regionally until we are 15 or 16 years old but then we lose players (and players) who prefer a university career than the more hazardous lifestyle of going as a gypsy to the ATP or WTA.

LucianaLike Yzaga in 1985, he has played in the Roland Garros Junior final. Nothing less. He has the talent and level of the chosen ones. But he must add the evolution in the rest of the aspects in his turn to professional to also compete in the jungle of adults.