At the beginning of 1961, Ecuador was very enthusiastic in terms of tennis due to the consolidated career of Pancho Segura as a professional, and the Guayaquil tennis club was preparing, for the first days of April, an exhibition tournament in which Segura will perform and three world tennis stars confirmed their participation, and they are Australian Ashler Cooper, American Earl Bucholz and Peruvian Álex Olmedo. The presence of such players forced the written and radio press to devote a little more space to tennis.

Our journalism was, of course, more concerned with what Barcelona could do in their first participation in the Copa Libertadores de América, against Santa Fe de Bogotá; or Jorge’s transfer Child Bolaños to River Plate in Argentina. It was the same with basketball – which was talked about a lot at the time – because our team was supposed to play the South American championship in Rio de Janeiro and there was a lot of expectation to know what Carlos Valle, Abel Jiménez, Pío Sandiford, Nicolás Lapentti, Juan Sala and Jorge Even Mejia.

Smiling Eduardo Zuleta (i), Agustín Febres Cordero, judge, chairman; and Miguel Olvera after defeating Colombia in doubles in 1961 at the Guayaquil Tennis Club. Behind, fans who want to congratulate the Ecuadorian tennis players. Photo: File

In world tennis, according to international reports, it was mentioned that the top figures of that time were the Australians Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, the Italian Nicola Pietrangelli, and among the South Americans, the Chilean Luis Ayala, and among the women, the incomparable Brazilian. María Esther Good. Meanwhile, our own Miguel Olvera and Eduardo Zuleta, who competed in various tournaments in 1961, supported by a campaign carried out by the newspaper EL UNIVERSO, traveled to the United States and the Caribbean in January, where they competed in twelve tournaments, winning five . in pairs.

At that time, it was already said that Ecuador could participate in the famous Davis Cup and that it was a good opportunity for local tennis players to show their skills.

Our country, which has been a member of the International Tennis Federation (FIT) since 1925, has never applied to participate in Davis. Blas Uscocovich sent a cable asking the FIT, which was based in Australia, to register Ecuador to participate in the Davis Cup. In addition, Uscocovich’s request also sought to be granted a seat.

The request was quickly granted and a telegram arrived from Australia saying: “We inform you that your management has been accepted, for which Ecuador is authorized to participate in the Davis Cup dispute” and that our opponent will be Columbia. The Colombians required several conditions to be visitors, such as the dates being Saturday April 29, Sunday April 30 and Monday May 1, 1961 in order to have the proper permits.

Eduardo Zuleta (i) and Miguel Olvera greet their rivals from Colombia after defeating them in the 1961 Davis Cup. Photo: File

Also, Ecuador assumes all ticket costs for the four athletes and leaders, accommodation and all organization costs. When Blas Uscocovich received the news, he was worried about the economic issue, since the National Tennis Committee was allocated an amount of 3000 sucres as an annual quota and of course it was not enough to fulfill the international obligation.

At that time, it was thought that the Sports Federation of Ecuador should agree with the Government to financially support the intervention of our national team for the first time in the history of the Davis Cup and while it is in Guayaquil. Federico Muñoz Medina, the president of Fedenador, sent an urgent telegram to the president of the Republic, José María Velasco Ibarra, asking him for a grant of 20,000 sucres, which was the budget needed to hold such an important sporting event.

On Saturday, April 8, 1961, very early in the morning, the private secretary of the Presidency of the Republic, Gustavo Soriano, sent a cable informing that the Government had accepted the request for financial support. Among the Ecuadorian tennis players, the national press highlights the great season of the first Colombian player, William Álvarez, who won the tournament in Cannes. The Ecuadorian tennis commission named Miguel Olvera, Eduardo Zuleta, Carlos Hamburger and Luis Ratti as players, and Carlos Ycaza Coronel as captain.

On Monday the 24th, the official list of the visiting delegation was announced, chaired by Jaime del Corral, representative of the Colombian Tennis Federation; and it consisted of tennis players William Álvarez, José Alejo Cortez, Gustavo Castillo and Benjamín Anzola. The Colombian delegation came in two parts; First came Castillo and Anzola, who arrived from Cali on April 25, 1961; the others were completed later.

Ecuadorian journalists asked Captain Carlos Ycaza why he did not see the recently arrived Colombian train. He replied that he was not wasting time looking at substitute tennis players. Just on Wednesday, April 26, William Álvarez from Paris and Cortez from Panama arrived in Guayaquil.

The draw determined that Olvera and Álvarez would face each other first, for Ecuador and Colombia. At 3:45 p.m., on historic Saturday, April 29, 1961, two actors of the first Davis Cup dispute in the history of our country took to the field.

The match started at 16:00 and, as expected, in front of a full stadium. In an exciting and marathon duel, Olvera won the first point by defeating Álvarez, the first racket of Colombia, with 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 2-6 and 7-5 in about three hours and 20 minutes. It was almost 19:45 when Eduardo Capricorn Zuleta defeated Cortez in three consecutive sets (6-2, 6-3 and 6-3) and awarded the second point to Ecuador.

The Ecuadorian press highlighted first of all the point won by Olvera, highlighting his submission to the ua matches intensively. On Sunday, April 30, the match that was supposed to start at 10:00 was delayed an hour because the rackets of the Colombian Álvarez were not ready. The same tennis players played in the teams singles, so they faced each other in pairs and our team won 6-3, 6-3 and 10-8. That’s how Ecuador stayed with the Davis Cup series, because there were two matches left.

On May 1, Zuleta defeated Álvarez in five sets. Olvera closed the series by defeating Cortez in four sets. For this last match, they say that the last two sets of the Ecuadorian tennis player were extraordinary. After the matches, the Ecuadorian committee invited the Colombian delegation to a reception in the halls of the Guayaquil tennis club, where the then government minister Gustavo Gross was also a guest. After the impressive victory, the Ecuadorian press highlighted Olvera’s big heart and Zuleta’s magnificent game, which, although slower, proved to be more accurate.

After the celebration, after those euphoric and historic days for the white sport in the country, it became known that the second round will be an away game, against a strong United States team. (OR)