“People always think we’re on vacation”
Tirante described the loneliness of life during the tour. “It’s very difficult to travel alone on tour. There are so many things that people don’t see, especially off the court,” he said. “I think people always think we’re on vacation, but we go to a lot of tournaments, taking care of flights and hotels and all that.”
He also talked about the gap between his life today and the life he grew up with. “I’m just a very humble guy from Argentina, where I grew up with my family,” he said. “The difference between the life I grew up with and the life I’m just living in a bubble now compared to the life and home I grew up with in Argentina is huge. It took me many difficult years to realize that.”
Tirante. “So many players have very big egos”
Asked if players are talking to each other about these issues, Tirante pointed to a broader issue. “No, no, no, we’re not good enough among the players to talk about it with each other, but I think a lot of players have very big egos, which is a big problem that the Tour has,” he said. “The best players are very closed people and they have their team.”
“Maybe I can talk to the Argentina players, but not to the other players because they are not that open,” he continued. “I’m a very warm person, I think Argentines are like that, but not European players. So it’s very difficult to open up to other players because they don’t really give you the answer you need.”
From beating Djokovic in Cincinnati to the last four in Stockholm
Tirante’s words are heard in the best season of his career. In August, the then world No. 50 made his breakthrough in CincinnatiDefeating Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round, which he called the best win of his career. He then defeated Martin Landaus and 14th seed Jakub Mensik to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final, where he was stopped by Arthur Fils.
Now ranked 51st, he reached the last four in Stockholm with a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-3 win over qualifier Alexander Shevchenko in 2 hours 49 minutes. “It was a great fight against one of my friends on tour,” he said afterwards. It’s his third ATP Tour semifinal and his first on hard courts. He will face fourth seed Alejandro Tabillo in the final.