“My heart hurts”: Frana’s brutal confession after being eliminated from the Davis Cup

The disappointment and sadness over the elimination in the quarterfinals of Davis Cup It will surely take a while to disappear. After several years without much expectations, the Argentina was once again excited to win the long-awaited Silver Salad Bowl, the one she added to her record in 2016, although she failed to deliver the knockout blow and was eliminated after falling 2-1 to Germany this Thursday.

The solid victory of Tomás Etcheverry (60th) against Jan-Lennard Struff (84th) had filled the national team with confidence, which could not end the series in the second singles in the hands of its greatest exponent, Francisco Cerúndolo (21st), who would clash against an unwavering presentation by Alexander Zverev (3rd), and would later leave the SuperTennis Arena in Bologna, Italy, with a bitter taste, by wasting three match points in the doubles carried out by Horacio Zeballos (5th in doubles) and Andrés Molteni (25th in doubles).

“Last night we experienced the maximum expression of what sport is, what tennis and the Davis Cup are.. Rarely can there be a situation in which you experience so much. The Davis, in these types of instances, is more hell than paradise, because it is an immense joy when you win, but it is a pain when they surpass you and even make you question. They lead you to think: ‘Why did I choose this?’“said the albiceleste captain, Javier Franain exclusive statements to Sebastián Torok for La Nación.

In tune, the one who has led the South American cast since December 2024, when he replaced Guillermo Coria, reflected: “But you have to let the frustration, the sadness, the anger go down. It is inevitable, you have to go through it, you have to cry, bitch so that a deeper analysis comes later. In this process that I had to face I always noted that the result is not something exclusive in the persecution and that is where you hold on when you lose your axis. We have a pain giant. But We understand that in this process a lot of things were gainedmany a little less visible than others.

“My heart is broken, but my soul is also at peace.. We all said that if we lost 6-2 and 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2, apparently it hurt less. But here we were very close and that’s how we wanted to leave. We cannot decide how far we are going to go, but we can decide how we are going,” said the left-handed Rafael, 58 years old and retired in 1997, who had guided the team to successes as a visitor against Norway, in January, and against the Netherlands, in September.

Along the same lines, the tanned medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, who totaled 18 wins and 19 losses between both modalities in the traditional national competition, analyzed: “Obviously, in the locker room, the first thing you hear, especially the players, is: ‘How didn’t I do this? Why didn’t I throw it here?’. But we all agree that we can’t get into the final. They missed easier balls, they got more difficult. It didn’t want to be, it didn’t have to be. And they showed a great level“.

“Zverevfor example, was very connected, it was noted that I really wanted to winwas the first to jump onto the court when they won the doubles. He was super respectful. He played like the number 3 in the world that he is. He was intelligent in explaining that he had difficulties with Fran, he put him on the table and freed himself; I thought it was super smart. He took up the challenge. These players, if there is one thing they know, is facing challenges and in those moments they have a way,” he highlighted about the convincing level of the Hamburg-born player.

Finally, Frana revealed a personal wish for the future: “Now you want to get out of here, but you have to think again soon. Hopefully it will be at home. Since January of last year, in Rosario, we haven’t played at home. I hope the streak ends. Now you have to do the same exercise of leaving a tournament in which you lost in a good instance and you have to start again from scratch. And you say: ‘First round again! How heavy!’ But little by little you get into it.”