How 'The Shark' Comesana has joined Nalbandian in Argentine history

Francisco Comesana defeated Ugo Humbert, the No. 17 in the PIF ATP Rankings, on Wednesday and then fell on his back in celebration. But he quickly bounced back up, for two good reasons.

"The court was really hot!" he explained with a laugh after his victory on a day that featured temperatures of nearly 40-degrees Celsius. The second reason he returned to his feet was because of his mother, Adela.

Comesana's second-round triumph in his US Open debut was the perfect birthday gift to his mother. He shouted ‘Happy birthday!’ before embracing Humbert at net. Then, Comesana headed to the stands on Court No. 7 and gave Adela a hug.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that I beat the World No. 17,” Comesana said in Spanish. “I’m still thinking about my mother’s emotional birthday. It’s really amazing that we can experience this as a family. After suffering so much, we’re all really happy.”

In July, the Argentine reached the third round at Wimbledon, where he opened the tournament by upsetting sixth seed Andrey Rublev. Now he is back in the Round of 32, in only his second major.

Comesana is the second Argentine male, and the first since David Nalbandian, to reach the third round in his first appearances at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Meanwhile, he is doing it all with his family by his side in New York. Joining him at Flushing Meadows are Adela and father Agustin, as well as Comesana’s brother Valentin.

The family presence could lead to added pressure, but Comesana believes that there is nothing more satisfactory than playing the tennis of his life in front of them at a tournament of this magnitude.

“It’s difficult when your family is at the tournament. It’s the first time it’s happened to me and I’m happy that they can enjoy watching me compete, but it’s not easy because I know that they get very emotional and nervous. All that emotion can take its toll, so I try not to see them when I’m competing,” Comesana said.

Playing for his family in the stands, but also putting them out of his mind has been the key to Comesana’s great week, which has also included a win against Swiss lefty Dominic Stricker in the first round. During Comesana’s second-round match, during which he dropped the opening set, he preferred to focus his attention on the gaze of his coach, Sebastian Gutierrez, and the on-court advice he was offering.

“It’s a little crazy what we’ve been working on with ‘Guti’. He tells me he is confident and he believes that I belong here at this level. He’s always on me to believe it more myself,” Comesana said. “Today at the start of the match it was difficult, but he was saying: ‘Keep going, trust yourself.’”

If there are moments of not believing in himself, the No. 108 in the PIF ATP Rankings quickly reverses such thinking.

“The serve has always been one of my strengths, it helped me a lot at Wimbledon. Against Humbert, at the start, it wasn’t. But I started to believe, telling myself that it’s my weapon. Then it started to win me a lot of points and I started to be very aggressive,” Comesana said.

By taking on his coach’s advice, believing that he belongs in this category, Comesana has started to soar. The newfound belief makes Comesana even more of a danger to his opponents, while also doing justice to his nickname ‘El Tiburon’, translated as, ‘The Shark’.

“I’m liking it more and more when they call me that because the shark is an intimidating animal,” Comesana said with a laugh.

Francisco Comesana is nicknamed, 'The Shark'. Credit: Buenos Aires Challenger

The nickname is a homage to Argentina's football club Aldosivi, which boasts a shark on its shield. Comesana, who first cracked the Top 100 in April, is an Aldosivi supporter.

Comesana will need to call on the intimidating spirit of the shark for his next clash against home favourite Taylor Fritz, No. 12 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

“It will be a match to keep battling and competing at 100 per cent, but also one to enjoy because I’m sure I’ll get a big court,” Comesana said. “I’m going to go out to give my best.”

His family’s vacation plans, which includes some tourism around Manhattan, will remain on hold because ‘The Shark’ is still in action.

“I was clear when I told them to come to New York, that I wasn’t coming here for a holiday!” Comesana said.

Editor's note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es.

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