Over three decades after Renee Richards became the first transsexual in professional tennis, a Chilean player is set to follow the same path in Buenos Aires.
“It’s a dream come true for me,” Andrea Paredes told the Argentine daily Clarin.
Paredes, 37, was set to make her debut on Tuesday at a Futures tournament with US$10,000 in prize money, in what she hopes will be the start of her professional career.
Born on July 4, 1971, as Ernesto Paredes, the Chilean is a financial economy analyst and claims she feels more comfortable in Spain than in her own country.
“Here they treated me very well, better than in my country. They treat the issue more normally. I am proud to be the second [transsexual] tennis player after Richards,” she said.
Richards, born as Richard Raskind, reached the No. 22 spot in the ranking in 1977. Her entry into professional tennis was not easy. Following sex-change surgery, the women’s tour refused to have her in 1975.
The New York Supreme Court allowed her to compete in 1977. At 43, Richards returned to the tour with full dedication and even won a tournament. After her retirement, she returned to her previous profession, medicine.
Paredes had tried to play professional tournaments in Chile, but she could not make it.
“At the International Tennis Federation [ITF] they were very open and they authorized me in November, after several tests,” the player said.
Paredes seems ambitious.
“Many say I play like the ‘Chino’ Marcelo Rios because I am left-handed and I hit the ball flat,” Paredes said.
She is not afraid that her age may impose limits on her career.
“I am 37, but biologically it is as if I were 27. I think at this time any ideas about age are obsolete. I take the match calmly, it is the start of my career. I worked hard in silence for two years,” Paredes said.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS