Puig's popularity reflects growing Hispanic interest

Monica Puig, a 19-year-old from Puerto Rico, was playing her first main draw match at the U.S. Open.

But in the seats surrounding her on Court 7 were throngs of fans. They shouted "Vamos!" "Monica!" and "Pica Power!"

They waved small Puerto Rican flags. Their camera phones frequently popped up to capture the action; their texts and Facebook posts updated the results to fans in Puerto Rico, where live coverage of the match was almost nonexistent. Several times, rows of fans were brought to their feet in reaction to the play on court, drowning out the noise in the other courts Monday night. (Also see: Pics - Monica Puig in the spotlight)

"She has the whole island backing her," Andres W. Lopez said.

Lopez wore a blue shirt with the word "Pica" on the front and his wife, Camelia Garrido, wore a corresponding red shirt that read "Power," reflecting a catch phrase associated with Puig. They flew in from Puerto Rico for the Open and said they counted themselves among Puig's biggest fans.

Puig, who has risen to No. 44, has tapped into a fast-growing Hispanic demographic that has not been widely represented in tennis and has thus lagged in its participation in the sport.

But in recent years, the trend is showing signs of reversal. In 2012, the total participation of Hispanic players was 3.84 million, according to the U.S. Tennis Association, up from 2.58 million in 2010. Hispanics represented only 13.7 percent of total players; Hispanics made up 16.7 percent of the overall population in the most recent census.

Puig is among a handful of younger tennis players resonating with Spanish-speaking fans at the Open and online via Facebook and Twitter, platforms she regularly uses to communicate with fans worldwide.

"She's having a huge impact on the sport," said Eduardo Garcia, a tennis instructor in Puerto Rico who traveled to New York for the Open. "There's a lot more interest among players back home."

Also playing at the Open this week is Maria Sanchez, 23, a former top-ranked player at the University of Southern California. Sanchez, ranked 111th, lost to Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, 7-5, 6-2, Tuesday, but begins doubles play with her fellow American Shelby Rogers on Wednesday.

"It's growing a lot in every culture," Sanchez said of tennis. "I really wouldn't be surprised to see more Spanish-speaking players in the future."

While there are many top Spanish-speaking players from Spain and South America, there have been only a handful of Hispanic-American tennis stars. Pancho Segura, an immigrant from Ecuador who excelled in the 1940s; Pancho Gonzales, a Mexican-American standout in the 1950s; Rosie Casals, a top player from the 1960s and 70s whose parents immigrated from El Salvador; Mary Joe Fernandez, who was born in the Dominican Republic; and Gigi Fernandez, a Puerto Rican who was in attendance for Puig's match Monday.

Gigi Fernandez was the first female athlete from Puerto Rico to turn professional and win an Olympic gold medal. She won 17 Grand Slam doubles titles before retiring from the professional tour in 1997.

Fernandez said Puig was among the first Puerto Ricans to have the same impact on the sport since she was competing in the 1980s and '90s.

"She has the spirit to be one of the top 10 players in the world," Fernandez said of Puig. "Her game is still developing and she doesn't have a lot of experience, and there's a lot of expectations on her, a lot of pressure. I kind of feel bad for her because I keep telling her to try and not follow my footsteps. I had a Hall of Fame career, and that's an immense amount of pressure. I think she needs to follow her own path. She's young and she has a great future ahead of her."

Puig, who grew up in San Juan but trains in Miami, said her mother handed her a racket when Puig was 6.

"In Puerto Rico, tennis really wasn't that big when I started playing," she said. "We had Gigi Fernandez representing us, but in the last few years, tennis is more and more popular. You're seeing more and more courts built."

Puig has embraced social media and regularly posts on Twitter in Spanish and English. "It's so wonderful," she said. "Everywhere I go, there's always Puerto Rican fans. It's very exciting and it's nice to have that fan base and have people from my neck of the woods."

Part of Puig's message is what she's coined "Pica Power," a term that derives from the Spanish verb "picar," meaning to bite or to peck. "My coach one day during practice kept going on in Spanish, saying, 'You have to keep chipping away at the stone until you get it to where you wanted to be,'" Puig said. "So I abbreviated it, and it became my thing, my catchphrase. I really like it now and I'm getting a lot of responses to it."

But the supportive crowd could not push her through Monday against Alisa Kleybanova, a former top-20 player who was playing her first Grand Slam event since recovering from Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Puig had reached the third round at the French Open and the fourth round at Wimbledon, but she fell to the 363rd-ranked Kleybanova, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Still, the stands erupted into applause. Among the cheering fans was Maria Reyes-Soto, a Puerto Rican who now lives in Sykesville, Md., and has followed Puig's career for the past year.

"She didn't give up," Reyes-Soto said. "She played wonderfully. She will inspire a lot of young women."

© 2013 New York Times News Service