Marina Bassols: a dream come true between bills and threats

BlanesWhen everything suggested it would be one of the worst years of her career, in just under a week the situation took a 180-degree turn. During the month of March, Marina Bassols (Blanes, 1999) publicly reported death threats after losing a match. To this harassment were added injuries, a lack of competitive consistency, and a shortage of economic resources to face the professional circuit. But Roland Garros changed the face of the Catalan tennis player, who, on her second occasion reaching the main draw of a Grand Slam (after overcoming the qualifying round), defeated Colombian player Emiliana Arango in the first round. She did all this without conceding a single set before being defeated by the world number 8, Mirra Andreeva, in the next phase.

In Paris, Bassols has written the first great chapter of her love story with top-level tennis. The dream lasted only a week, but it was worth it. She doesn't mind having had to change accommodation up to five times in 10 days for the numbers to add up. There are no fixed incomes, but there are expenses: salaries, flights, hotels, meals..., all borne by the player. “The circuit is very expensive, the expenses are incredible. Last year was tough, I didn't play as well and with injuries I played fewer tournaments, so you stop earning a certain amount of money you were counting on and you organize your year. I had to talk to my team at the beginning of this year because I couldn't keep paying them as I had been,” confesses the player from La Selva.

Within this financial distress, Marc Pallarès, his coach, suggested making a tweet on social media asking for help in finding sponsors. The post has accumulated nearly 50,000 views and the approval of several colleagues from the circuit, who have not hesitated to ask him if they can copy the idea. For those potential partners who want to secure his services, Bassols defines himself as “a hard-working person, with good values, grateful, a fighter and resilient. In addition to being one of the best rackets at the state and world level”. After all, it is not a dystopia of the labor market, but the day-to-day reality of professionals below number 100 in the ATP and WTA rankings.

Condemned in victory and defeat

"Be clear that you are dead", "I hope your plane crashes"; "I know where you live. How do you prefer to die?", are some of the messages Bassols received at the beginning of the year when she lost a match in Colombia. She exposed them in a video on social networks. "This is what most tennis players experience in our day to day. It is very serious. I speak from anger and sadness, but also from fear," the tennis player pointed out in this same message.

It's hard to understand how internalized it is. “In the end, I receive insults every day, win or lose, even passing the Roland Garros preliminary round,” she adds in conversation with ARA. She is not the first tennis player on the circuit to receive threats, and unfortunately, she won't be the last. There are others who have received photographs of family members, their homes, or guns demanding a certain result before a match. There are others who have had to deal with stalkers who have followed them around various tournaments and hotels where they were staying.

“That's why I made the video, to show the other side of tennis to young people who are starting their careers and might encounter this behavior, so they can try to manage it in the best possible way and their development is not affected.” In an exercise of sincerity, she assures that she has genuinely been scared, suffering for her physical integrity. “In the end, I receive many messages and nothing ever happens, but... what if it does?” she asks herself.

Happy amidst serenity

Those who know her describe her as a calm and simple person, who likes to spend quality time with friends to keep her mind busy and disconnect. “Working with Marina is very easy, she makes things go smoothly. She is very tidy, arrives on time, places her trust in her team and always seeks the well-being of those around her,” explains Pallarès. After a week of fantasy in Paris, she is resting these days with her family in Blanes, her emotional base of operations. Her refuge. She has everything there: her childhood, her friends and a lot of memories. She lives and trains in Barcelona, but takes advantage of the Costa Brava whenever she can.

She has a coaching qualification and does not hide her desire to continue being involved in tennis in one way or another. “I really enjoy teaching, seeing the enthusiasm of young children, although for now I am focusing on my career,” she concludes with a smile on her face, recalling her time at Roland Garros.