The young tennis player Mateo Pallero, the top-ranked player in the national Under-12 category, is organizing a raffle to be able to travel and compete in the United States. The target tournament is the Orange Bowl, one of the most prestigious junior tennis tournaments, founded in 1947 and considered a Grade A event by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The raffle is for an iPhone 16, with a ticket cost of $20,000, and it will be drawn on Saturday, November 13, by the national nightly lottery. He has even competed in an Under-14 tournament, a category above his own, where he is ranked among the top 130 players. Additionally, the young player has already fulfilled his dream of representing the Argentine national team, playing in the South American Under-12 Championship in Santiago de Chile this June, and will do so again in mid-November when he plays the world championship of his category in Peru. Without support from the Argentine Tennis Association (AAT) to compete in a North American tournament, as the organization has a policy of only providing funds for participation in local tournaments, Pallero, along with his family, decided to raffle a high-end smartphone. The story went viral on social media and caught the attention of professional tennis players. Currently ranked first in the national Under-12 category, Pallero has won 10 titles, both national and regional, so far this year. The first to collaborate was Federico Coria, who is returning to training after elbow surgery, and who made a shirt and a cap he uses in matches available for the raffle. Former player and current coach Carlos Berlocq also got in touch, helping to spread the story and spending this Thursday afternoon with Mateo and other Under-12 players, while former world No. 48 Pedro Cachin came up with an innovative idea: at his 'Tennis Benefico' event. A series of exhibition matches scheduled for December 6 at the Bell club in the Cordoban city of Bell Ville will provide 'a contribution bonus intended for two or three young Argentine talents.' Furthermore, the alias for the bank transfer is 'Mateo.pallero.mp' and it is in the name of the young man, Mateo Mariano Pallero. With the dream of competing abroad and proving his worth against the world's best juniors, Mateo Pallero is raffling an iPhone 16 to raise enough money to play the Orange Bowl. The boy, from Pinamar, is one of the greatest hopes of Argentine tennis.
