Unagi! A nod to Friends finds Tabilo in the form of his life

Touching his temples with his fingers has become an increasingly common celebration for Alejandro Tabilo on the ATP Tour. However, many people are not aware that the gesture takes its inspiration from episode 17 of season six of Friends, one of the Chilean player’s favourite series.

In the episode, Ross, one of the hit sitcom’s main characters, holds two fingers to his temple and says “unagi” (pronounced oo-narg-ee) in reference to a supposed state of total awareness that allows him to handle any kind of danger. Despite the fact that the term actually means ‘freshwater eel’ and the character’s concept is fictitious, Tabilo has started to treat it as if it were real. The wins on court have come thick and fast ever since.

“The celebration is for my girlfriend,” explained the No. 32 in the PIF ATP Rankings, who is into his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. “It goes back a while.

“It’s from Friends. I’d already seen it and was rewatching it. When my girlfriend started watching it for the first time, it was the ‘unagi’ episode. Then we started saying we needed to be more aware of what’s going on around us, that I should be more focused on court. We started to tease each other with unagi and that’s where the celebration came from.”

It's all in the Unagi 🫡@InteBNLdItalia | #IBI24 pic.twitter.com/pozWR7D7zR

— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 15, 2024

Implementing the concept on the ATP Tour has brought in big results for Tabilo ever since, especially in 2024. He won his first title on the circuit in January at the ATP 250 in Auckland, where he celebrated on championship point by raising his fingers to his temple, ‘unagi-style’. One day later he broke into the Top 50 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time.

He has also been pulling the move this fortnight in Rome, where he has become the first Chilean to reach the semi-finals since Fernando González in 2009. Tabilo is even signing the camera with ‘unagi’ following each win, including after the biggest victory of his career when he sunk World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. What started as a joke inspired by his favourite TV series is now a genuine concept that helps him maintain a winning attitude on court.

Playing in ‘unagi mode’ has even allowed him to improve his ‘bouncebackability’. Before 2024, he only had two wins to his name after going one set down. Now he has eight. He is also stronger under pressure. Three months ago in the Santiago semi-finals, the Chilean was a set and break down, and later 2-4 down in the decider, against Corentin Moutet. He went on to win.

In the fourth round in Rome, Tabilo saved two set points before going on to defeat Karen Khachanov in two sets. But his recent success is not only thanks to unagi. There is a lot of hard work behind his newfound mental fortitude.

“We’ve worked on the mental side with my team, we’ve talked a lot with psychologists,” said Tabilo. “The idea is to be more relaxed, breathe, control my emotions more on court, and not lose my concentration as much. It’s something I needed. I’m more relaxed in my matches. If I lose a set, I reset and think that everything can change quickly, and I have to keep fighting. That has given me results.”

His new approach has now earned him his first Masters 1000 semi-final appearance, a run which also means he is guaranteed to break into the Top 25 of the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday. Just one year ago, he was outside the Top 150.

“Now I’m much calmer about everything,” said Tabilo, who plays 2017 champion Alexander Zverev in Friday’s semi-finals. “Two years ago, I moved up the rankings and I got injured. We’ve learned from that experience. Even at the end of 2023, we did a short preseason to give my body a rest, and it worked. We had an unexpected start to 2024 and now I feel much more confident.”

Editor's note: This story has been translated from ATPTour.com/es.