After a long time, Mexican tennis once again has a character worth looking at without nostalgia. Renata Zarazua (Mexico City, 28 years old) ended a series of Mexican absences from this sport, by entering the four major tournaments, remaining among the top 100 players in the world, winning titles and defeating players who seemed out of reach. This month she won the WTA 125 tournament in Austin – the third of her career – after defeating Canadian Marina Stakosek, a win that jumped her 12 places to No. 70 in the world rankings. Not since Angelica Gavaldon broke out in the 1990s has any Mexican come this far. Zarazua receives EL PAÍS in Monterrey, Nuevo León, after intense days between Texas and the Billie Jean King Cup: “I’m a little bit of everything. Happy, tired, in process…”. He celebrates the results of his final weeks and concludes 2025 as the greatest learning year of his career.
Zarazua is a tennis player 24 hours a day. His job is to train and compete professionally, and he uses his free time…to play tennis. “It’s an obsession,” he says with a laugh. He justifies: “Going to training with a completely different goal than just going to play with a friend without any kind of stress.” But apart from this fixation, it is a punitive sport, because victories are short-lived and defeats carry more weight: “One week you celebrate and the next week you lose again.” For her, the central learning of the year is not in the defeats but in the head. He points out: “Before, I thought that everything was training, eating and sleeping. I have to remind myself that I am a human being before I am a tennis player.” To remember this, she turns to mental training such as meditation, breathing or concentration exercises: “I walk now with a clarity that I did not have before. I am very happy.”
Her relationship with tennis began when she was balancing her other passion: gymnastics. “I wanted to do it all,” he recalls. But the impetus came when her older brother moved to the United States, and at the age of 13, she went with him to San Antonio and tennis replaced gymnastics. But this change led to a dark period. “I went through a difficult process…that left me with anorexia and eating problems.” It’s been nearly two years of hospitalization, with tennis on hold. “It helped me grow and understand my body…it all came from the pressure.” Finally, when he was 18, he had to choose between going to college or turning professional. “I don’t regret anything…tennis makes you grow in a different way.”
His career took off since 2020 when he reached the semifinals at the Mexican Open in Acapulco and made his debut at Roland Garros. A year later he represented the country at the Tokyo Olympics. Despite his early fall in Paris and Japan, he continued to press until in 2024 he made the leap and participated for the first time in the four major tournaments, breaking an absence that lasted for nearly three decades in the major tournaments of Mexican tennis. In January, she became the first Mexican to qualify for the second round of the Australian Open.
But the match of her life came just this year, when she beat Madison Keys, ranked sixth in the world, last August in the US Open, a historic blow for women’s tennis in the country. He vividly remembers the day he made his debut on Center Court in New York. “I told my mom: ‘I’m really scared. I don’t want to go out and play.’ He was afraid of losing too much, of being paralyzed, of feeling like he wasn’t enough. Her mother caught her and said: Enjoy it, no one will remember it. And he took those words to heart. “It was one of the best moments of my career because I felt like I was enjoying it. Sometimes you set limits for yourself. We have more capabilities than we think.” That experience led her to the conclusion: “I have to be braver. Sometimes I play neutral… I like to be the one who goes to find the match.” In addition to the things you want to strengthen, you also learn about your abilities. “In the way I play, I’ve become more aggressive and smarter. I’ve had to use my intelligence in the last few months because I’m someone who may not be tall, I’m not very strong, and I have to use my weapons.”
Austin was another test. Their match was held 6-6 in the third set and the next day they only had to play a tie-break. “It was the most stressful thing I’ve ever experienced.” He didn’t sleep. When he won it, he checked his phone waiting for a message from his mother, and found insults, criticism, abuse, and even wishes that his plane would crash. She talks about it being something that all tennis players go through. “It doesn’t affect me, it makes me laugh. But you don’t know if it can cause depression in someone,” he says.
In a sport played mostly alone, family support was her anchor. Her brother was her coach, her father was her actor, and her mother accompanied her every moment. “When I lose, the first person I always call is my mom,” he says. It was not difficult for his family to understand his path because Zarazua’s title was already registered in Mexican tennis. His parents played, as did his grandmother. But it was his uncle Vicente who shined in the 1960s and 1970s when he won medals at the Pan American Games, competed in the 1968 Olympics and was part of the Davis Cup team. This role model for her, an icon of the sport in Mexico, had died just a few days earlier and Renata received the news immediately after the match. “It was very sad… You lived with it a lot. Whether you like it or not, it affects you.”
She has lived most of her life in the United States, but never hesitated to represent Mexico, even when she couldn’t find a national program that supported women tennis players. “What I have seen is that in other countries they always have a federation that players can go to and they offer them everything: housing, courts, doctors, coaches. I think the money that the federation has in Mexico does not go to us or towards the development of tennis.” But he insists that was not the reason behind his move: “I will never play for the United States because I love my country.” But this decision involved other sacrifices. “Being in another country has not allowed me to participate in social life, I am very focused on what I want to do, my goals and my training. All my friends are here (Mexico) and not having to sacrifice parties or social events has allowed me to follow the routine more professionally.”
She says she was inspired by Rafael Nadal for his unwavering stance and also mentions Iga Swiatek as a great reference. “It’s weird to have performers when you can be in front of them the next day,” he joked. But being the top-ranked Mexican has now made her a role model, and she is excited to see that there are girls or guys she inspires. “Sometimes you want to get angry or scream…and say, ‘There are people watching your behavior.'”
Zarazua wants to play until his body can handle it. At 28, he doesn’t even want to think about retirement. “I am at my best mentally, physically and mentally,” he says. On the horizon, he envisions an academy in Mexico where he can impart his learning. But he does not think much about the future and in the near future he has a goal that he has not yet achieved: “It is my dream to win a big tournament in Mexico… whether in Guadalajara, Mérida or Monterrey. Anyone.” What you want is to do it at home.