At 62, Juan Bugueño takes on one of the biggest challenges of his career as a sports leader: heading the Tennis Federation after the scandal that removed Milovan Kegevic from the top post. The man from northern Chile has a long history in the world of racquet sports. "I played from age 11 in La Serena, then I took coaching courses. In fact, I'm an ITF Level 2 tennis coach and an ITF Level 1 beach tennis coach," he recounts by way of introduction. "I was president of the Antofagasta Tennis Association, I was director of two future tournaments at the Autoclub de Antofagasta, my son played on the national circuit and, already as a director of the federation, over the last three years it fell to me to handle beach tennis in Chile. We went from six ITF tournaments in 2022 to around 40 last year," he adds about that career.
How have these first days at the head of the Federation been?
It hasn't been simple. It has been a rather complex matter, as has been the case over the last three months. We had started a board that had been working quite well until June. And then, the election of the new president was complicated. It wasn't done as it should have been done, and it generated the various problems that Chilean tennis has been going through over the last three months.
How do you plan to move forward to restore full normalcy? In fact, you still can't use the headquarters because Kegevic refuses to leave it.
The headquarters issue is one of the many complex issues this new change has brought. We are going to use all the legal means at our disposal to be able to reach the headquarters and occupy it again in order to continue developing Chilean tennis in a sustainable way.
What self-criticism do you make about this situation?
I think all sports leaders must make this self-criticism. Nowadays, being a sports leader of any kind in Chile is not simple. Leaders — because many people don't know this — receive no payment. We do all this work ad honorem, because we are people who love sport and believe we can contribute in the best way to its development in our country. Today, the training of leaders in Chile is minimal, and the participation of good leaders is not significant. Therefore, many different leaders can appear who perhaps have intentions that are not linked to the good practice of sport. Juan Bugueño has taken over for the next four years. Photo: Andrés Pérez.
Andres Perez
Do you plan to change the statutes?
Yes, one of the main points we are going to push is to change our statute, to modify the regulations in such a way that we can incorporate the greatest number of clubs and thus have an election that is much more universal and democratic across the territory.
Do you think that the fact that the federation is financially sound is a temptation for those leaders who don't have the best intentions, as you say?
When Sergio Elías took over the federation eight years ago, it was practically bankrupt. There were even some factions that sought to make the federation disappear and create a new one. However, the implications of that meant the ITF would stop recognizing us as a federation, and everything to do with junior development, the Davis Cup, etc. So, Mr. Sergio and his board worked toward rebuilding Chilean tennis. And in some way he left the federation with significant capital, which is what we intend to work with and continue increasing in order to achieve sustainable development of this sport and, above all, to be able to popularize it, train people, and generate great development of Chilean tennis.
What will happen with the appointments made during Milovan Kegevic's tenure, such as Andrea Koch as Billie Jean King Cup captain?
When Mr. Sergio finished his term, the new president began his period and disaffiliated many people and made new hires. However, those hires he made are not recognized by our board. Therefore, they are hires that began with him and ended with him. We, as the new board, will have to meet and analyze what the best path will be to hire the new people who will work, for example, on the Billie Jean King Cup.
Will Guillermo Gómez, who had resigned when Kegevic took over, continue as head coach?
For me, he is a great head coach. He has a very interesting and very innovative development project. In addition, he is a head coach who has worked with our three main racquets: Christian Garin, Tomás Barrios, and Alejandro Tabilo. He is a man who lives tennis, travels the world watching tennis. And we think he is the person who should lead these four years of work.
Former undersecretary Andrés Otero is also returning. Why is he coming back?
Andrés's name has been much maligned. It has been done precisely by those people, or many of the people, who have caused tremendous damage to Chilean tennis in recent weeks. Having Andrés on board is a luxury for us. We chose him with a wide majority within the board. His management at Fetech was impeccable. And we believe he is the most suitable and qualified person to take on the role of general manager at the Federation.
You speak of a wide majority because on the board there are two directors from Kegevic's slate, Úrsula Cortés and Gabriel Dimarco. What is the relationship with them like?
As president, it falls to me to work with all my directors. Therefore, in some way I have been talking with each of the eight directors. All eight want to participate, want to keep working. I hope that with all eight we can work in the best way during these years. And hopefully we will always analyze and resolve any differences internally, as befits a board that wants to move forward for Chilean tennis.
During this setup, have you encountered any surprises in the accounting?
Well, it's very difficult to answer that, because we are under intervention by the Olympic Committee. Therefore, they are managing the accounting and everything related to those aspects. Practically all we have been able to work on was the Davis Cup matter. It is, at bottom, mostly a matter of representation. But as president I still don't have access to any payments, and neither does the treasurer, who is Úrsula. We hope to be able to take charge of this situation as soon as possible. Given so much public distrust about how the previous board was run, how will the relationship with Úrsula Cortés, who is also the treasurer, be handled?
I understand your question and that is something complex. In some way, we have discussed it in board meetings and we hope that she, like us, will act in the best way, in the most transparent way possible, and that we can all move forward for the good of Chilean tennis.
What did you think of the Davis Cup?
In organizational terms, I think it was spectacular. We received many congratulations from the ITF official who was here in Santiago, from the referee general, and from the Spanish delegation as well. They were very grateful for the treatment they received. Now, in terms of results, it wasn't the result we would have hoped for, but we understand that the Spanish team is number two in the world. It's a federation that has a very high budget to work on its development and therefore has many players within the top 30 or 40 of the world ranking.
What have you thought of Nicolás Massú's process?
This was the first time I was close to Nicolás Massú, of whom I have the best impression as a player, as a person, and as Davis Cup captain. He has a very cohesive team; it's a great team, whether the players, kinesiologists, doctors, etc., who work together wonderfully. It's the first time he has lost in Chile; he had always won, but we have the utmost confidence that he will continue working with us, and we want him, in addition to all the work he does in the Davis Cup, to also support us in development, especially of the players who will turn professional, so that in early stages we can bring them into a good initiation in the Davis Cup.
That is, would he take on a new role?
We hope so. I don't say he would take it on, but rather we hope to talk with him and find a way for him to somehow join the development work during the year, especially with juniors in our Federation. Before the Davis Cup we talked; we spent almost an hour and a half analyzing everything that had happened in the Federation, receiving from him all the information he had and being able, in some way, to also give him what was happening, and with this feedback we had, we agreed to talk again in order to continue working on tennis development.
You are from Antofagasta. How will you manage to organize yourself?
That's a very interesting question. I am a maxillofacial surgeon; I work at the Antofagasta Hospital in the Emergency Unit under a shift system, in which I work 24 hours one day and rest for five days. Therefore, I have time to move and travel to Santiago continuously and frequently. So, I can manage my time. As for travel, I am a very austere person in that regard and I pay for my own trips. They won't be federation costs; they are personal.
What would you like to happen by the end of your term?
I would like that during all this time we achieve a sustainable development of Chilean tennis, that we somehow generate leadership both from the federation board and from the presidents of the associations, together. That we all row in the same direction, that we can popularize our sport throughout the whole country, not only in regional capitals but hopefully at the level of the greatest number of communes in the country that today have no tennis, and that we are capable of training many coaches, referees, and hopefully leaders, in addition to developing the juniors.
Precisely after the Davis Cup, many people talked about the lack of a new generation of players. How do you plan to address that issue?
It's something quite complex. We had very encouraging news at the J200, which is one of the biggest under-18 tournaments, where the champion was Benja Pérez among the boys and Camila Rodero among the girls, while in doubles Isidora Lisboa was champion. That fills us with pride and hope. We are going to fight to support them in the best way and thus have a team of about six boys and six girls whom we promote so that later they can represent Chile in the best way in the Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup.
How do you respond to the corruption accusations that the current board made against former president Elías and Andrés Otero himself?
Our board is going to push for an external audit, whether for the period of Mr. Sergio Elías, in which I was a director, and also for the last three months in which Milovan Kegevic was in charge. Our idea is to carry out this audit with a prestigious firm at the national level in order to put Chilean tennis players at ease and allow us to move forward.
Have you been able to talk with Kegevic?
What I'm about to tell you will seem quite unusual, but I haven't spoken with Milovan since the day of the election. Before the election, we always talked. Many people won't like this, but I have a special affection for Milovan and I'm not going to speak about him in public or anything, and anything I want to say to him I will always discuss with him and tell him in person.