Wherever you take a look at the Membership San Carlos de Apoquindo, you’ll find somebody related to the Fillol Haggstrom household.
Greater than 20 family members work behind the scenes on the Chile Dove Males+Care Open in Santiago, a singular scenario on the ATP Tour. The household lives and breathes tennis, serving to to create a particular ambiance on the ATP 250 occasion.
This isn’t a brand new improvement. Event Director Catalina Fillol is the fourth daughter of Jaime Fillol Sr., who reached No. 14 on this planet in 1974. From 1993 to 2014 it was Fillol Sr. and his brother Alvaro Fillol who organised the event, which alternated between courts at San Carlos de Apoquindo, Santa Rosa and Vina del Mar.
The occasion returned to the calendar in 2020 after a six-year break, bringing the ATP Tour again to Chile simply as native favorite Cristian Garin was making his first transfer into the Prime 20 of the ATP Rankings. Fillol Sr., the 5 Fillol Haggstrom kids, their spouses, and over half of the sixteen grandchildren now all play a day-to-day position in making the event run easily.
Led by the tireless Catalina, every sibling takes a particular position. Cecilia takes care of the funds with Jaime Fillol Jr., who can also be accountable for on-court interviews. Natalia takes care of participant hospitality, and Angela is liable for neighborhood relations and participant companies.
“For our household, it was necessary that we had been united,” says Jaime Jr. “Regardless of the issues we do individually, all of us come collectively and develop with that philosophy.
“All of us like tennis, all of us play, and having an ATP event in Chile was one thing that made us very proud, along with [tournament rights holder] Octagon.”
So what’s the secret that allows them to work in concord?
“Ensuring the gamers obtain a heat welcome and are revered is one thing that’s at all times a objective for us from the beginning,” explains Jaime Jr. “That’s why we’re all dedicated. We’re a complete technology of a household serving to ensure that the event goes in addition to attainable annually and tennis brings us collectively. We’re a one-off on this planet, I’d say.”
In the meantime, the siblings’ husbands and wives have their very own day by day jobs. Allan Jarry just isn’t solely the daddy of Nicolas Jarry, who performed on the 2022 version of the event, but additionally the advertising strategist, together with Rodrigo Contreras and Diego Garcia. Martin Rodriguez is the Tennis & Participant Coordinator, and Renata Teran takes care of VIP companies.
That’s not all. 11 of Jaime Sr.’s grandchildren share accountability for event credentials, court docket preparation and handing out balls, and even tackle roles as ballboys or warm-up companions for the gamers.
“All of us really feel like we’re part of one thing massive and we wish the gamers to really feel that,” says Catalina, one of many world’s few feminine event administrators. “Having everybody on our staff is contagious. Throughout the week, we ask everybody in the event that they’re completely happy and what the expertise was like, and that’s the way it’s at all times been. The primary time I used to be on the event, I used to be 13 and I took the water to the courts. I labored my method by all of the roles to the place I’m now.”
These efforts are observed outdoors the household. “It’s a singular event,” says former World No. 5 and 11-time ATP Tour titlist Fernando Gonzalez. “For me, for the Chileans and for everybody. Once I was a boy, Jaime [Sr.] and Alvaro began to do it they usually’ve introduced it again. It’s wonderful to see how everybody enjoys themselves behind the scenes.”
“Everyone knows and love the gamers,” provides Gonzalez. “This is likely one of the most necessary sports activities occasions in Chile and South America, and there’s a complete household behind it. It’s distinctive on this planet, I’ve little doubt.”
“Everybody makes an enormous effort to run this event”, says Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who went on to succeed in the semi-finals on the 2022 occasion. “As a participant you’ll be able to see it. I see what they do, they usually do it very properly and you may see how completely happy they’re organising this event”.
One other 2022 semi-finalist, Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, additionally holds the event in excessive regard. “This 12 months was particular, an awesome week for me, and by chance we had been in a position to have followers”, stated the World No. 98. “It’s unbelievable to see how there’s a complete household serving to. It’s an awesome ambiance being a part of the event, we’ve all identified one another for years they usually put lots of vitality into making it nice.”
What does the longer term maintain for the occasion? “When the event left Chile, we missed it,” says Catalina Fillol. “The entire household. That’s why we felt we needed to deliver it again. Chilean tennis deserved it.
“Now it’s our third 12 months again and there are extra cousins working yearly. My father Jaime [Sr.] used to inform us that it wasn’t straightforward to run a event and now he says that, fortunately, we ignored him and saved on doing it.
“We wish to develop yearly. This 12 months we had a greater No. 1 court docket, we added lights. So with each element, we wish to convey that it is a Chilean event and that we’re going to proceed on this useless.”
With a tennis-mad household on the helm and loads of objectives but to be fulfilled, the longer term appears brilliant for tennis followers in Santiago.
[NEWSLETTER]
