Thursday night (26), Friday afternoon in Melbourne, Australia, reserved an unprecedented feat for Brazilian tennis: Luisa Stefani from São Paulo and Rafael Matos from Rio Grande do Sul beat the pair formed by the Indians Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna by 2 sets to 0, partials of 7/6 (7/2) and 6/2 and won the Australian Open title in the mixed doubles. For the first time, a partnership between two Brazilian tennis players is champion of a Grand Slam, as each of the main tennis tournaments in the world is called. The country already had titles in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles brackets, but the other Brazilians win playing doubles (Maria Esther Bueno, Marcelo Melo, Bruno Soares and Thomaz Koch) have always done so playing with foreign partners. “It’s still a little difficult to describe the feeling. I don’t know if it completely dawned on me, but being able to enjoy this moment next to a Brazilian is very special. It’s not always that we can have this privilege”, said Rafael after the historic victory. . Victory in the final – which lasted just under an hour and a half – capped off a perfect week for the duo who have been playing together for just a month and lost just one set in five matches. Luisa and Rafael performed as a duo for the first time during the United Cup, competition for countries, held at the end of December. The two brought to the partnership a solid performance as doubles – Rafael is number 29 in the world and Luisa the 34th. Luisa has a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games on her resume, alongside Laura Pigossi. Since then, she has experienced great emotions. She injured her knee during the US Open dispute in September 2021 and spent a year off the courts. She returned little by little and won, in the week before the Australian Open, the WTA 500 in Adelaide. In Melbourne, Luiza ended up not being able to participate in the women’s doubles group after the withdrawal of her partner, the American Caty McNally, due to injury. The unprecedented title, along with Rafael, was yet another remarkable event in a decisive period of Luisa’s career, 25 years old. “Everything I’ve been through up to here has a movie in my head. Really, these last few months have been a lot of very intense things. (Winning a Grand Slam) has been a dream since I was a child, since I started playing tennis, and that became my passion , my life goal. To be able to be here and share with Rafa, another Brazilian and make history for Brazilian tennis, there is no way to describe the feeling and importance of that for me”, said Luisa. Ymanitu is runner-up Another Brazilian who reached the final of the Australian Open and ended up with the runner-up was Ymanitu Silva, from Santa Catarina who competes in wheelchair tennis. Silva, who ranks eighth in the world in the Quad category (for athletes who also have upper limb disabilities), played alongside South African Donald Ramphadi and lost the decision to the Dutch Sam Schroder and Niels Vink by 2 sets to 0 ( 6/1 and 6/3). This was Ymanitu Silva’s second Grand Slam runner-up. In 2022, performing with the Australian Heath Davidson, he was defeated in Paris, in the final of the Roland Garros tournament.
Agência Brasil
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