the bulgarian Grigor Dimitrovone of the most talented tennis players on the circuit and currently ranked 31st in the world, was left at the center of the scene, but he did not do so for a resounding victory on the ATP Tour, but for having been victim of a robbery in Barcelona. Dimitrov, who is in the Catalan capital to participate in the traditional Conde de Godó tournament (began this Monday, with large South American participation), was robbed on public roads to steal a high-end watch.
The event occurred last Friday night, when Dimitrov (number 3 in the world in 2017 and long baptized as Baby Roger Federer due to the technical resemblance he had with the Swiss legend) was driving down Avenida de Sarrià. According to the Catalan portal ElCaso.comThe athlete was returning to his hotel from training at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona when a motorbike approached him and closed the rearview mirror of his car to make him put his hand out the window. It was then that the motochorros ripped off the watch he had (of the Bianchet brand, valued at 70,000 euros).
Dimitrov, who is the eleventh favorite of the ATP 500 in Barcelona (one of the most prestigious on the European tour on brick dust), did not stop and did not call the 112 emergency phone at the same moment, but after a few minutes , according to the same Catalan outlet, around 9:30 p.m., he appeared at a Mossos d’Esquadra police station and filed a complaint. So far it has not been possible to locate the thieves, who escaped, nor has the watch been recovered.
Different sources of the investigation explained that they suspect that the thieves are Neapolitans, displaced to Barcelona. It is not, according to the Mossos d’Esquadra, the usual local thieves who carry out this type of robbery in the center of the city, sometimes with violence. Dimitrov, who will come out ahead of the tournament and wait in the second round for the winner of Albert Ramos Viñolas and the Ecuadorian Emilio Gómez (son of Andrés Gómez, winner of Roland Garros 1990)so far he did not make statements about the fact.
Dimitrov is not the first famous athlete to be the victim of an assault. In 2020, the Celta footballer Fedor Smolov reported the theft of a watch valued at 300,000 euros. Also the Polish striker from Barcelona, Robert Lewandowski, on his way to training at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, was the victim of a theft of his watch. The event suffered by Dimitrov reminded us of the one suffered by the Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc. Unlike the tennis player, the Monegasque motorist He chased the criminals in his Ferrari, that they were arrested and would be natives of Naples.
Triumph of Etcheverry
The ATP 500 in Barcelona featured five Argentine rackets in the singles main draw. The first to celebrate was Tomás Etcheverry (59th) from La Plata: on the main court, called “Rafa Nadal”, he defeated the Spanish veteran Pablo Andújar (37 years old, current 323rd, former 32nd , playing his last professional season). Etcheverry, who added his 13th victory of the season, this Tuesday will face another Spaniard in the second round: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (38th).
The celebration of the Platense
Marco Trungelliti (240th) from Santiago, who had earned the chance to play the first ATP 500 of his career by overcoming the two qualifying matches, said goodbye in the first round of the main draw after an intense match against Chilean Nicolás Jarry (51st), who triumphed 7-5 and 6-3, in 1h50m. The match, played on the “Andrés Gimeno” court, was attended by ex-soccer player Javier Saviola, a close friend of Trungelliti (both live with their families in Andorra).
Jarry’s success against Trungelliti
For this Tuesday there will be the presentations of Diego Schwartzman (48 °) vs. Chinese Yibing Wu (56th) and Pedro Cachin (69th) vs. the Dutch Gijs Brouwer (121 °). The debut of Francisco Cerúndolo (32nd and 15th seed in Barcelona) against the Spanish Fernando Verdasco or the Italian Francesco Passaro will remain for Wednesday.
The best Argentine in the world ranking, Sebastián Báez (30th; his best position), this week chose to play in the ATP 250 in Munich. As fifth seed, he will debut against local Oscar Otte (94th).
