Federico Chingotto: ”I slept in my car to save money”
Federico Chingotto had great success during this weekend's Master Final in Barcelona as a backhand player.
He and Martin Di Nenno went to the final, pushing Ale Galan and Juan Lebron to three sets.
But it hasn't always been easy for the Argentinian.
Since only the 16 players with the most points from the year get to play in the Master Final, the last tournament of the year on the World Padel Tour, forehanders Fede Chingotto and Martin Di Nenno ended up paired together. Di Nenno played on the backhand in practice beforehand, but Chingotto eventually got the "honor" of playing on the left side.
He thanked and received and maneuvered out top players such as Agustin Tapia and his former partner Juan Tello in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. In the final, it was all over for the pair, but it wasn't as if Chingotto was in any way outplayed by the world's best backhand player, Ale Galan.
After one of the matches, Chingtto spoke to YouTube channel el4Set and talked about the tough years growing up in Argentina under poor conditions.
— I thank my mother for all the help she gave me during all these years. Sleeping in the car to save a night in a hotel, traveling to Tucuman, driving 1,400 kilometers to play a match, and coming back. Sometimes I wondered why I kept playing. I couldn't go to all the tournaments because I didn't have enough money to get there, he says.
"I ate what I could and rarely went to hotels."
He continues:
— When you play well, you tell yourself you can enter another competition, but when it doesn't go your way, and you lose in the first match, it is a different story. I ate what I could and rarely checked into hotels. Then when I started playing on the World Padel Tour and saw that the stands were complete, I couldn't believe it.
The Monegasque billionaire who owns the APT Padel Tour, Fabrice Pastor, helped Fede Chingotto and Juan Tello move from Argentina to Spain to pursue padel full-time. The two played together for seven years before separating in this autumn. Next year, Chingotto plans to play with Javi Garrido.
