National tennis, before and after FET

The Ecuadorian Tennis Federation (FET) has a rich history in its 56 years of existence. Over time, it established itself as a model organization. Although it is important to remember that Ecuadorian tennis also has a beautiful story to tell in the 60 years before the founding of FET.

At the end of the 19th century, tennis, which was fashionable throughout Europe and played by compatriots living and studying in France and England, arrived in Guayaquil thanks to the cocoa boom. On the initiative of many of them, Club Sport Guayaquil was founded on April 23, 1899, dedicated to the practice and development of tennis, cricket and football. In August of that year, the first import of equipment for white sports fans arrived in our city.

It is important to highlight the influence of foreign migrants who moved to these regions at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, such as Lorenzo Durini, a Swiss, who arrived in 1903. In Guayaquil, the Spaniard Lorenzo Tous played tennis and built his playground in the street Loja. Brothers Luigi and Benedetto Castagneto, Italians, who came in 1875, played tennis and had their own company (La Bola de Plata), dedicated to importing hats, sticks, clothes and shoes suitable for playing tennis.

Another Italian, Giovanni Carmigniani Martino, a farmer who arrived in Ecuador in 1891 and settled in Vinces to produce cacao, was also a fan of tennis. His line of succession reached his great-grandson, Francisco Guzmán Carmignani, a prominent figure in Ecuadorian tennis.

the newspaper The Telegraph from October 11, 1919, mentions: “We can be sure that the German colony was the first to introduce tennis to Ecuador. It is estimated that in 1904, Messrs. Max Richanek, Julio Bunge, Juan Grimm, Alfredo Denlon and Walter Bochert installed an outdoor tennis court near Victory Square. The club fever of creating the so-called societas was a way for tennis fans to continue to spread across the country. It is officially known that the first club with a statute was the Andes Tennis Club, founded on October 10, 1907. On August 13, 1910, the most influential tennis club in the country was founded: Guayaquil Tennis Club. The 40 founding members did not even think that in time they would become famous builders of the most important cradle of tennis players who gave Ecuadorian sport respect and fame.

In 1915, the English of the Anglo Company turned Ancón into a neat and orderly town, and among his hobbies was playing tennis. They built a social space with two courts. In the same year, the Bahía Tennis Club was founded. In Quito, 1928, Ecuador Tennis Club. Also in 1928, Cuenca opened the Cuenca Tennis Club. There were three decades in which tennis, based on that club fever, enabled social harmony and sports practice.

From the 1920s onwards, the sports organization took off. The Guayas Sports Federation, created in July 1922, had great success with the election of Manuel Seminario Sáenz de Tejada as president in 1923, who turned it into an avant-garde institution under his leadership. Other provinces followed the example of the establishment in Guayaquil. Little or nothing is acknowledged for the excellent management of the Seminario. Thanks to his excellent relationship with the leaders of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in 1925 Fedeguayas managed to register football with FIFA and tennis with the International Tennis Federation.

The idea of ​​creating regional games between countries took shape in 1936. For this purpose, delegates from Panama, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela met. Galo Plaza Lasso attended for our country. Thus was born Odebo, who in 1938 designated Colombia as the seat of the first Bolivarians. All sports in our country started looking for representatives up to the task, so tennis was no exception.

In those days, the journalism of Guayaquil was already referring to a hidden person who showed his skills on the courts of the Guayaquil tennis club. It was a modest parable. Graphics week published on April 27, 1935: “I saw a 13-year-old boy caught with unusual skill. Their conditions went deep into my spirit.” It was Pancho Segura, who since then opened the window for Ecuadorian tennis.

His career was full of sacrifices and successes. He won gold in Bolivarians in 1938, and he was a three-time world champion in South Americans. His appearance was the trigger. Then followed the successes of Miguel Olvera and Eduardo Zuleta, who were champions of South America in 1962 by winning the final against a strong Brazilian team and taking the Miter Cup.

In Davis, Ecuador made its debut in 1961, but in 1967, our country, against all odds, defeated the mighty United States on a historic day. The entire series was played only by Miguel Olvera and Pancho Guzmán against a galaxy of American stars led by the famous Arthur Ashe.

All this intensity of Ecuadorian tennis coincided with a key institutional fact. Until 1967, international representation was held by the National Sports Federation of Ecuador. That year, the statute of that institution was reformed and the national sports association was created; The Ecuadorian Tennis Association was born there. Fedenador offered the presidency of that Tennis Commission to the great leader: Blas Uscocovich Luivisich

Tennis is strengthened by institutional organization. International representation, competitions outside the country, national tournaments in all categories, organization and participation in the Davis Cup, sponsorship of women’s tennis, all this began to be the responsibility of the Ecuadorian Tennis Federation. And November 28, 1967 is the decisive date; At the session of the first national tennis congress, the Board of Directors for the period 1967-1969 was appointed. Joaquín Orrantia González was elected president. In 1978, the Law on Sports was passed, which stipulated that national sports federations should be called federations.

FET had these presidents: Blas Uscocovich Luivisich (1961-1967), Joaquín Orrantia González (1967-1969), Danilo Carrera Drouet (1969-1971), Leonardo Proaño Alarcón (1972-1976), Roberto Jones Manrique (1976-1980). , Ramiro Cornejo Jarrín (1980-1984), Nicolás Macchiavello Almeida (1984-1989), Mario Canessa Oneto (1989-1993), Danilo Carrera Drouet (1993-1997), Jaime Guzmán Maspons (1997-2002), Manuel Carrera del Río (2002-2010), Carlos Muñoz Insua (2010-2012), Víctor Hugo Moncayo (2012-2013), Nicolás Lapentti Gómez (2013-2016), Alberto March Game (2016), Alfredo Gallegos (2016-2017) and Danilo Drouet career (2017-2025). I had the opportunity to be the president of FET. It was a great honor for me, together with my board, to serve one of the sports that brought the greatest glory to the country. (OR)