“I Feel Relieved”: Tabilo Moves On From Family Drama And Injury With First Roland Garros Win

7 min read
May 26, 2025, 6:53 PM
Alejandro Tabilo

Alejandro Tabilo (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

PARIS – Emotional blows and a family dispute are the main reasons Alejandro Tabilo’s wins this season can be counted on one hand.

On May 11, the Chilean publicly called his father a “coward” and a liar on social media. The tennis player was responding to an attack from Ricardo Tabilo, who had accused his son of forgetting about his mother, allegedly manipulated by his girlfriend.

The first Roland Garros victory of Tabilo’s career seems to have helped him move forward and recover some ground in a season to forget.

“I’m feeling much better. After everything that’s happened, I’ve arrived with a clearer mind and less weight on my shoulders. I’m happy about that—I feel relieved,” he said after beating the energetic and talented Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.

The tip of the iceberg in his personal life issues became public a couple of weeks ago on Facebook, in the comments section of a post by Tenis Chile. The post featured a photo of Tabilo with his mother, María Álvarez, as part of a typical Mother’s Day tribute.

“Happy Mother’s Day to all moms, and thanks to Tenis Chile for sharing that old photo, since Alejandro forgot about his mother ever since he picked up his girlfriend at a VIP club in Santiago’s upscale area,” his father wrote.

The player quickly fired back, “Good to see you’re still spreading lies in such a cowardly way. Now you remember you have a wonderful woman.” Minutes later, he deleted the comment.

On top of the family fallout, Tabilo also had to deal with a bone edema in his wrist, which kept him out of Madrid and Rome and almost forced him to skip Paris too.

“I had pretty much accepted that I’d be returning on grass. We got the scans, and it came back much better than we expected. From there, we took things slowly, one day at a time, seeing how the wrist progressed. After a week or two, the doctor saw that it had improved more than he thought. We decided to play, and before leaving Chile, the doctors told me it looked perfect. That gave me confidence,” he explained in Paris.

“It was a tough process mentally. After Monte Carlo, I took a full week off back in Chile to clear my head. I went to the beach with my girlfriend and family. That was really special. We managed to disconnect, to let go of all the pressure.”

Freed from that pressure, Alejandro Tabilo will face Australian Alexei Popyrin on Wednesday for a place in the third round.

Sebastián Varela
Sebastián Varela
Tennis Reporter

Journalist. Founder of CLAY, a global tennis media platform. Since 2012, Sebastián has covered multiple international events for various sports outlets, including the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Tennis is his specialty, and his yearly calendar is built around four essential stops: the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open. His love of travel has also shaped his work beyond sports, inspiring travel chronicles from unique journeys — like crossing the Australian desert in a van or exploring a tourist-free Japan during the pandemic — published in travel magazines.

Interests:
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Sebastián Fest
Sebastián Fest
Tennis Reporter

Journalist. Founder of CLAY, a global tennis media platform. More than 70 Grand Slams covered during a 35-year journalistic career. He is the former Sports Editor of the German news agency DPA and the Argentine newspaper La Nación. He has reported on every FIFA World Cup since 1998 and every Olympic Games since 1996.

He is the author of 'Ni rey ni dios' and 'Messiánico', biographies of Lionel Messi, and 'Sin red', a decade-long journey following Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, as well as 'Gracias', a biography of Nadal.

Correspondent for Spanish newspaper El Mundo in South America, he co-chaired the International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA), an organization that gathers the 100 most influential tennis journalists in the world, and is currently a board member. He was also Editor-in-Chief of Around the Rings, a site focused on high-level sports politics.

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