The tennis court has witnessed many inspiring yet heartbreaking stories as that of Roberto Bautista Agut. With a racquet of responsibility in hand and a heavy heart, Roberto stepped onto the court to represent his country just a day after enduring a profound personal loss.
So, this article will shed light on the tragic tale of Bautista Agut father accident and how he got all the courage to overcome this pain. So. let’s dive into this without further ado.
Inspiring Athlete: Roberto Bautista Agut’s Driving Force
- Roberto Bautista Agut is an inspirational person for most athletes. Despite the most heart-wrenching situation, he has shown how one can put all the effort into the game.
- There were many moments in Roberto’s career when he just wanted to be at home and didn’t want to travel, but he converted those tough times into his ultimate source of motivation and became who he is today.
- His father, a former football player and a banker, and his mother were his driving motivation Roberto looked up to.
- When Roberto struggled through his tough times, his wife Ana Bodi always supported him and helped him cross that phase of his life.
- Roberto thinks he had some of his best tennis while going through a horrible time. It was obviously for his family, but more than that, it was because he couldn’t throw away what he had worked all his life for.
Cause of Bautista Agut Father Accident
Every tennis player undergoes intense training and countless hours of dedication to earn a spot among the top athletes.
However, Spanish tennis player Bautista pushed himself to the edge for much more than personal gain.
When he was just a few days away from representing his country at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Agut received news of his father having a catastrophic fall while cleaning the family’s horse stables.
Due to the fall, his father, Joaquin Bautista, became a quadriplegic and couldn’t move from the neck down; on top of that, he needed an artificial breathing machine since he couldn’t do it by himself.
The Spaniard almost decided to skip the game, but his parents always wanted Agut to make his dream come true despite his situation. Therefore, he ended up going in the end.
It must have been a challenging moment for him, but Bautista never made his stress and tensions the reason to fail his professionalism. In the Rio Olympics, he advanced up to the quarterfinals, winning against Andrey Kuznetsov, Paolo Lorenzi, and Gilles Müller.
However, Bautista’s dream of receiving an Olympics medal couldn’t be fulfilled after losing against Juan Martín del Potro in further rounds.
Death of His Mother
Who knew that Bautista Agut father’s accident was just the start of his tragic years? As Joaquin was paralyzed, his mother, Ester Bautista, along with two other people, needed to take care of him 24/7.
The stress and anxiety both Roberto and his mother faced were super heartbreaking because, somewhere, they both knew that Joaquin could have died. Taking care 24 hours is not an easy job.
Additionally, when the person is your life partner and watching him go through all this pain must be a heart-wrenching journey.
We can’t even begin to picture the suffering Ester had to experience while watching her spouse merely sleep and not respond. With all this stress, Roberto’s mother passed away in May 2018.
The 52 years young, Ester went to sleep and didn’t wake up. Her husband was in bed in the next room while her son was at the club he used to train.
This was a 100% unexpected situation for the whole family as they couldn’t even figure out what actually happened at that moment.
A mom who was sleeping would never wake up; Roberto must have felt as if this was some sort of prank his mom had done to him. But in the end, it wasn’t the case.
The whole new season of 2018 was in front of the tennis player. Once again, he was in the same situation as two years back. However, Agut decided to face the tragedy by channeling his emotions to the battles in front of him on the tennis court.
The Spaniard managed to win his opening match at Roland Garros despite the hardships and tragedies he faced recently.
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Tragedy Struck Again: Death of His Father
After slowly overcoming the death of his mother, Roberto was trying to bring things back to normal by cracking into the top 10 and defeating Novak Djokovic twice.
Moreover, the professional tennis player had his memorable victory over Andy Murray at the Australian Open and progressed to his first-ever semifinals at Wimbledon.
In November 2019, Bautista arrived in Madrid for the Davis Cup finals, where Rafael Nadal and others were waiting for him. Unfortunately, tragedy struck again as he got a call about his father’s health condition worsening.
Roberto returned to his home in Castellon, Spain, and remained by his father’s side until the last moment of his life and said goodbye to him.
Saying goodbye to a father who loved and cared for him all his life must be a shattering moment, but his country was waiting for him, and he didn’t let her down.
Finals of The Davis Cup: How He Represented His Country?
After his father’s funeral, the Spanish player gathered all his courage and strength to return to help his team for the match the following day as Spain booked their seats for the final after winning over Britain.
As Bautista showed up for the match, the whole crowd inside the La Caja Magica embraced him with a welcoming hug and boosted his confidence. But he was there to support his team from the bench.
However, captain Sergi Bruguera had other ideas as he asked Bautista to play for the opening singles in the Sunday finals.
Though the stress of all four years was with him, he didn’t think twice about agreeing because all his hard work was for today’s game.
So Roberto accepted the offer and brought the championship’s first point by winning against Felix Auger-Aliassime with a 7-6(3), 6-3 record.
During the Davis Cup final, Rafael Nadal won all eight matches in Madrid and led the victory to Spain winning against Denis Shapovalov.
Without a doubt, all players agree that Roberto securing his first win, even in such harsh conditions, holds a special meaning.
The professional tennis player said that these tough moments made him stronger and more powerful and gave him all the strength and courage that he could fight hard on the court to prove to his parents that their hard work was worth it.
Hence, Bautista Agut’s parent’s death was definitely a hard phase for him, but he turned the grief into a courageous play.
