In the first days of June 1990, Ecuador was very interested and excited by the news that arrived from Paris, where Andrés Gómez had defeated all the opponents who stood in front of him at the Roland Garros tournament. This made us think that with the level he offered, as he reached his second Grand Slam that year after being crowned at Count Godó, in Barcelona; and at the Madrid Open he was one of the contenders for the title in France.

When he advanced to the semi-finals and defeated Austrian Thomas Muster, we thought glory was close at hand. In the grand final, Gómez was to face the American sensation of the moment: Andre Agassi. The match will be on Sunday, June 10, 1990. While all this was happening, the Davis Cup team in Ecuador was preparing to travel to Cuba, for the semi-finals of the American Zone Group II, in Varadero, between June 15 and 17.

The Ecuadorian Tennis Federation (FET), which he presided over at the time, tasked Ricardo Ycaza with convening the team and selected a group of young men consisting of Giorgio Carneade, Pablo Campana, Andrés Alarcón and Ernesto Lingen. Ycaza told us at one point that Andrés Gómez told him that he wanted to offer his contingent and be part of the team in Cuba, if he was eliminated early at Roland Garros. It was later learned that Andrés had approached the Cuban embassy in Paris to arrange the proper visa. I remember that at the session of the FET Davis Cup Commission, held in those days, it was decided that Gómez should apply to the International Tennis Federation for the series against Cuba.

The news about Gómez’s registration in the Ecuadorian delegation caused great expectations in the Cuban media, who were eagerly waiting to see live one of the best tennis players on the planet. The Davis Cup national team had to take a flight to Havana on Sunday, June 10, 1990, starting at 7 p.m. Back then, it was already known that Andrés Gómez beat Agassi in four sets (6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4) in the Roland Garros final. All of Ecuador joined in the celebration. Cars took to the main avenues of the cities to show how happy we Ecuadorians are for such a great triumph.

As an anecdote about this final in Paris, Telecentro Canal 10 (now TC Televisión) acquired the rights to broadcast the Gómez-Agassi match and invited me, along with Paco Álvarez, to broadcast the final. We were on the channel recording very early and although it may seem unbelievable today, the program director told us that we had to wait because they were going to prioritize the World Cup in Italy and that their commercial obligation was to broadcast the game between the United States and Czechoslovakia. I remember that Paco and I were about to leave that station because it seemed to us a mistake that it was decided to show the Gómez game on delay.

When we found out that Andrés had won the third set against Agassi, I urgently called Jorge Kronfle, one of the Channel 10 executives, asking them to reconsider their decision. I have to admit that my tone was energetic and I managed to get Kronfle to issue an order to broadcast the fourth set, which eventually ruled. Ecuador could thus see at least the last set of such a historic victory by Gómez, live and direct.

The celebration of Gómez’s coronation was taken over by Captain Ricardo Ycaza, who was supposed to accompany the Davis delegation to Cuba. The news was that Ricardo’s celebration lasted so long that he never made it to the airport and therefore missed his flight. This caused us serious inconvenience. I talked about it with various guests such as Armando Larrea, who was the secretary of the National Sports Council at the time; and Nicolás Macchiavella. It was decided that he would be the one to act as the captain of Ecuador. But Ycaza finally arrived the day before the series was drawn.

Throughout Sunday, the day Gómez won the final, as president of FET I was contacted by various international media such as Radio Caracol from Colombia; Ovación, from Peru, French newspaper L’Equipe; and for Diario EL UNIVERSO I wrote a column that I titled “La Cátedra de Andrés”.

On June 11, very early, I contacted Vito Muñoz by phone, who traveled from Italy to Paris with a Teleamazona cameraman to watch the Roland Garros final. He told me that he had lived through one of the most exciting moments of his career. After the interview using tricks to be on the clay with Andrés – sweaty, moved between tears and smiles – to have an unprecedented conversation. Vito returned to Rome to continue his work at the World Cup.

In Cuba, on Thursday, June 14, 1990, at 12:30 p.m., the Davis Cup draw was held in the Siboney hotel complex in Varadero. Chief referee Enrique Sabatel from Venezuela and Rolando Martínez, president of the Cuban Tennis Federation, were present. Cuba had a strong doubles team, with Juan Pino and Mario Tavares. The first singles matches were Tabares vs. Alarcón and Carneade vs. Pine.

Another unfortunate news of this Davis Cup in Cuba is what happened 24 hours before the start of the series. While the tennis players from Ecuador were on tour in Havana, thieves broke into the rooms of our athletes. The strange thing is that they took sports equipment like rackets and shoes. Faced with this harsh reality, we sent our protest to the international authorities, informing them that Ecuador would not show up to play the series. The Chief Justice offered to consult with London about our position. The answer arrived after a few hours, and it read as follows: Ecuador must play, otherwise it could be punished with a two-year suspension from the Davis Cup.

In addition, the leadership of Cuban tennis had to pay (monetary) compensation, offer an apology and undertake to search for the attackers and return the belongings of the Ecuadorian tennis players. Hours and days passed, and nothing that was offered was fulfilled. We always suspected that the robbery was programmed to harm the sport, which it eventually did. Our tennis players performed with borrowed sneakers and rackets, which were not similar to the ones they used in their performances. Cuba won the series 4-1.

It’s a tainted tennis nomenclature. As a consequence of this series of Davis Cups where everything was happening, we recall the unpleasant moments we experienced when the Ecuadorian leadership invited the three Cuban attachés who were helping our delegation. Unfortunately, three Cuban citizens were not allowed to enter the reserved restaurant, as this was the norm at the time. Faced with this inconvenience, we withdrew from the place and shared sandwiches in the hotel canteen.

After that, we returned to the country with the bitter taste of everything that happened in Cuba. The good thing is that as soon as we arrived, we joined the festive atmosphere that prevailed in Ecuador due to the triumph of Andrés Gómez. What happened in Cuba was a bitter pill that we quickly forgot; Andrés, never. (OR)