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Meet The Prensa: Can I Speak in Spanish, Please?

by Jose Simian | 10:51 am, September 15th, 2009

» 7 comments

jose-headshot After four hours of electrifying tennis, 20-year old Juan Martín Del Potro defeated Roger Federer in the US Open final. It was an unexpected feat by the 20-year old Argentinean, who was playing his first Grand Slam final.

Once the players finished the round of gentlemanly statements that define a tennis trophy ceremony, presenter Dick Enberg rushed to explain in morbid detail the prizes for the champion. But Del Potro seemed to have other things on his mind—who knows, perhaps glory may not be a Lexus convertible, after all.

“Can I speak in Spanish?” Del Potro said when the presenter finally paused for a second.

“Ah, sorry, we are running out of time here,” was Enberg’s cold response

As Enberg kept talking about money, Del Potro looked as if he was being punished instead of crowned.

“And now, the presentation of the championship trophy…” Enberg went on.

But the man who had just beaten the greatest tennis player of all time still had some energy left. Politely, he requested to speak in Spanish for the second time.

“Very quickly, in Spanish, he wants to say ‘hello’ to his friends here and in Argentina,” presenter Enberg patronizingly said.

“I want to thank my team—this would have been impossible to achieve without them”, Del Potro said. “To all the Argentineans here, and especially to my mother, my father, Julieta, my grandparents and all my friends and the people who have supported me: This is for you.”

And then he cried, as we normally do when we are allowed to express great emotions in our native tongue.

A champion should not have to beg for that.

The video: (fast forward to 3:20)

José Simián is a producer at NY1 Noticias, where he hosts a literature and music interview segment. His writing has appeared in NY Daily News, Huffington Post, Sports Illustrated Latino and Billboard en Español. He will be writing the “Meet The Prensa” column for Mediaite.

Dick Enberg, Federer, Jose Simian, Juan Martin Del Potro, Meet The Prensa, Roger Federer, US Open

etaylor1983

I watched this live and didn’t know what to think. Was it 1. Enberg is clearly too old to be doing these presentations and couldn’t hear Del Potro? Or 2. CBS in his earpiece saying lets move on we re-runs to air.

Either way Enberg could of been a little more accommodating. CBS Should plan for a tennis match to get pushed because of rain and run long, because they often do. Enberg looked like a fool.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-De-Rosa/503357744 Anthony De Rosa

Jerk move, Enberg! The guy just beat Federer, let him say whatever he wants, however he wants.
katekilla

Enberg looked like worse than a fool; he looked like an ass. If they were really running out of time, perhaps he could have spent less time going on and on about the prize money, and then trying to explain — patronizingly, as the write above points out — what Del Potro was going to do. We get it, Dick! You’re scared of espanol!

Congratulations, Del Potro. You’re a classy winner and seem like a sweet guy.
Argentinean

As an Argentinean that has lived in the US I was shock. I know ho polite people are in the US and I couldn´t beleive that this presenter wouldn´t a Grand Slam winner to send a message to his people and his country on his own language. I thought that was the tournament organizer that didn´t want winners to speak Foreigner languages.
Felicitacion Juan Martin sos un campeon y un orgullo para tu pais.
greenhaven

@etaylor1983….
I would say #1. Enberg is too old to be doing this anymore. You’ve got to be mentally sharp to work under the time constraints these tv guys are tied to. Enberg has lost his edge and should start thinking about retirement. He was a jerk to put him off a couple of times before he finally let him speak.

@Argentinean…
I’m in San Antonio and we have a great Argentine athlete you may be familiar with. Manu Ginobili of the SA Spurs. I remember when the announcer was congratulating the Spurs after they won the NBA Championship, Ginobili politely answered questions. In this particular case the announcer did a great job by encouraging Ginobili to speak to his fans in Argentina in Spanish, which he did very enthusiastically.
Sorry that Del Potro had to ask TWICE to speak to his fans at home in his native tongue. He’s a really classy guy. Many of us are very happy with his great accomplishment. A true gentleman and champion!
Las felicitaciones a Juan Marin Del Potro en una gran victoria y a Argentina para producir a otro hijo elegante.
mandj

We are not Argentinians, but we could not agree with all of you more whole heartedly.
Mr. Del Potro is very graceous, and to have him timidly ask to speak to his family and country in his native tongue should not have happened. Wozniaki got the opportunity to speak in three languages during her ceremony, and she didn’t even have to win to do that.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Veith/16316790 Daniel Veith

Man thank god I wasn’t the only one who thought this. I was watching the trophy ceremony live and it was ridiculous. It felt shameful that Del Potro had to ask several times in order to obtain the right to speak in his native language. All the while Enberg is talking about prize money. To be honest I believe that Enberg could only focus on the fact that lexus paid money to be visible during the ceremony and so he slighted Del Potro while trying to accommodate that.

Del Potro was amazing though. Congratulations.