Rome 2022 - After 2 years of missing out re Covid we have just finished a great trip to Rome with a lovely group of clients. The weather was amazing, the quality of players on show was of the highest level and there was so much to do at this wonderful event.
So much to tell.....

The Venue
Il Foro Italico is quite a spectacular venue with 7 courts available on a ground pass, including the beautiful Pietrangeli court surrounded by marble statues. This is one of the best show courts in the world.

The other courts in the grounds also have fantastic viewing for lots of people with banked seating. On court 5 every day you will see all the top players like Djokovic and Nadal practicing.

There are 2 show courts, but my favourite is the Grandstand Arena which is smaller than Centrale and has better viewing with all seats being closer to the action.

Practice Courts - In addition to Court 5 there are 5 other practice courts with excellent viewing and the chance to see up close, players interacting with their coaches.

On one of these courts we had the privilege of watching Jamie Murray and his coach Alan MacDonald. Jamie and Alan were both kind enough to have a quick chat after their session, which was certainly one of the highlights of the week. (For them I mean)

Tennis Shops
Most of the world's tennis brands are all on sale in the individual shops, plus a special Italian Open sponsored one by Joma for 2022. If you want to get new tennis gear then this is the best place I know to actually shop for it!
      
Food & Drink in Il Foro Italico
Being in Italy you are spoiled for choice at very reasonable prices e.g. a good cappuccino at only €1.50 and lots of excellent Italian dishes.

Tuscan Tennis Holidays Coaching Venue in Rome
Only a short walk from both the hotel and Il Foro Italico, we have access to tournament quality clay courts set next to the River Tiber.
Coaching is from 9 - 11am each morning with our top Italian coaches Iuri and Andrea, plus of course Ian and Laura. Many of our clients were able to learn from watching the stars in action and then ask questions of the coaches about the various styles and tactics the following day.

WHAT I LEARNED AS A COACH FROM WATCHING/OBSERVING
1. If you are not a good athlete then you have no chance of winning on clay. The physical side of clay court tennis is quite incredible to see close up and live. I will certainly be reinforcing this with all of my juniors who wish to make any efforts to compete in the tennis world.
2. Winning big points is the key to success. This may seem obvious, but especially in the doubles there are so many sudden death points or match tie breaks where the match can be won or lost. I would imagine that Tsitsipas would like another go at his 1st serve when 5 - 6 down in the 2nd set tie break v Djokovic in the final. It almost hit the baseline!
3. Return of serve position. In the men's game, for singles, many stand quite far back for both 1st & 2nd serves but there are also some who stay nearer the baseline, like Brooksby (an interesting player with an unorthodox, but extremely effective style)
In men's doubles the majority return near the baseline on both 1st & 2nd serves and also in the women's singles the majority are closer to the baseline for all serves.
No fixed rule - try and see what works best for you.
4. In the warm up practice sessions most of the coaches appeared to adopt a good humoured, relaxed style and the intensity of players varied depending upon their personality or perhaps work ethic? A good coach will know their player and what works best for them.

Frances "the grinder" Tiafoe as his coach Wayne Ferreira jokingly called him. He is a big hitting shotmaker.

5. A reminder of why the scoring system in tennis is pure genius and the mental/emotional demands that it places on individuals. The car crash of Sakkari playing Jabeur in the quarters when a set, 5 - 2, and 30 - 0 up was a great example. One can never absolutely assume, but it certainly looked like a fear of winning - choking - complaining about everything - Jabeur allowed back into the match and then winning.
Djokovic on the other hand seems to manage his emotional control incredibly well and knows when to get up and when to stay steady which you can see by his careful or more attacking shot selection.
6. There are so many players who hit the ball well, but only a few who really know how to win and they are able to manage their emotions throughout the ups and downs of a match. Swiatek and Alcaraz are another 2 great examples of this i.e. they know how to win! Really looking forward to the French and hope that Alcaraz plays Nadal or Djokovic in the final. (but a fit & healthy Nadal)

What I loved the most?
Watching John Isner and Diego Schwartzman in the doubles was so much fun. Two nice guys having a good time competing and almost taking the title with a match point lost to a very close return by Diego (what a shame!).
The difference in stature and style was lovely to see and it felt like the crowds were more excited by their performances than any of the singles players.
It certainly seems to help the profile and appeal of doubles when the well known singles players take part, as many did in Rome.
If any of our clients who were in Rome with us have any comments I would love to hear them? Or who else has been to this event?

Our next special hosted trip?
Florence - Why not join us? We can work on your clay court game!
27th August to 3rd September
Click HERE for info

Tailor Made Tennis Holidays
If the dates for our Florence week don't suit then don't worry as we can still arrange dates to suit in Lucca, Florence or Sardinia. Why not contact us with your preferred dates and see what we can offer?
laura@tuscantennis.com
Click HERE for Tailor Made info ​

What clay courts can do for your game.
Watching the clay court events so far reminds me of why I love clay court tennis so much. But just what is it that makes this surface so special and what can we learn from playing on it?

1. Clay is a natural, soft surface you can slide on which helps protect your body from injuries
2. All types of spin are more effective on clay, especially topspin and slice for drop shots
3. With a slow high bounce it is much more difficult to win a point than on any other surface
4. As a result, tennis is more physically demanding on clay due to the longer rallies and having to control your balance while sliding around
5. Players who may not possess big serves or massive forehands, but are good defensively and have a variety of shots and spins can still be extremely effective e.g. Diego Schwartzman
6. For any level of player it provides an opportunity to develop your technique with more time to set up, your strategy due to the chess-like nature of the surface, your physical side as the rallies are longer and of course the mental aspect as you must be extremely resilient.

MY CURRENT FAVOURITE CLAY COURT PLAYERS 
 
MEN Nadal & Murray – Nadal is just the King although Alcaraz is the young pretender and may soon dethrone him! Andy Murray on any court surface is always great to watch but on a clay court his variety of spins, drops, topspin lobs and ability to hoist the ball to the sky and land on the baseline when defending defies belief at this stage in his career.

LADIES It was Barty, but now that she has retired I'm really enjoying watching Raducanu on clay as she is such a great athlete who can slide, drop shot, change the rhythm and compete like crazy. When she becomes stronger I think that clay might be her best surface.

​SO WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN TO PLAY ON CLAY?
 
We still have some spaces on our Special Hosted Week in Florence from the 27th August until 3rd September.
Our Florence tennis venue is considered to be one of the best clubs in Italy with a beautiful setting and world class facilities - 

• A minimum of 20 hours of tennis including coaching, doubles clinic, video analysis, social tennis, a fun tournament with prizes PLUS free court time
• SUNDAY - Video analysis and two hours play (10am - 12 noon) & social tennis (3 - 5pm)
• An individual tennis goal sheet to work on during the week - discussed with you during the video analysis
• MONDAY - Two hours group coaching (10am - 12 noon) & doubles clinic (3 - 5pm) tactically based for all standards & group dinner in the evening (cost of dinner not included)
• TUESDAY - Two hours group coaching (10am - 12 noon) & social tennis with Ian Campbell providing tips (3 - 5pm)
• WEDNESDAY – 2 hours group coaching (10am - 12 noon) plus a guided walking tour of Florence in the afternoon. Group dinner in the evening in one of our favourite Florence restaurants (cost of dinner not included)  
• THURSDAY - Two hours group coaching (10am - 12 noon) Afternoon free or more tennis opportunities
• FRIDAY – Social tournament with Italians (10am – 1pm). Afternoon free for last minute shopping, cultural visits or more tennis! Awards dinner in the evening (cost of dinner not included)
• Extra free court time during the week
• Quality Italian lunch daily Sunday to Friday
• Use of the tennis club facilities which include 16 tennis courts (9 red clay courts, 2 Red Plus artificial clay courts, 3 hard courts, & 2 artificial grass courts), swimming pool (open from 1st of June until middle of September), plus a snack bar, bar/restaurant, fully equipped gym, Turkish bath, & sauna
• Complimentary Tuscan Tennis t-shirt
• Our insider guide to the best restaurants and bars in the area 

Click HERE for full info

ITALIAN OPEN PREDICTIONS
Men – Alcaraz is the man of the moment but Nadal is always the favourite.
Ladies – Difficult to predict as so many different winners in the women's game at the moment but Swiatek has to be the favourite with Sakkari & Halep close behind.
​
CAN MURRAY BEAT DJOKOVIC?
After watching Andy beat Shapovalov last night in Madrid I would say yes, especially that he will have a day's rest. It will be very interesting to see how they match up after such a long time playing each other and all that they have both been through in recent times.

It would seem that Novak is getting back on track, but Andy is now serving even better than he used to and is also able to defend well and get to drop shots. It's interesting to hear him talk about the hard work he's put in recently and in particular how pleased he is with his ability to get the drop shot back. If you didn't see the match last night please have a look at the highlights and one of the most incredible drop shot gets I have ever seen by Andy! The contrast between their match last year at Wimbledon and this one was startling.
I am so looking forward to seeing him play in Rome next week where Laura and I will be hosting 2 groups during the Italian open. The men's game at the moment has so many exciting players who will all be in Rome and I can't wait to see them all competing and hopefully get to see some of their practice sessions which can often be more interesting than a match. The prospect of seeing Alcaraz for the first time live will be amazing and if Raducanu continues to improve her clay court form (and avoids injury) it could be very interesting.

We will post some photos and keep you up to date with what's happening in the tournament plus of course where to eat!

Men's Game

In terms of quality, role models and box office attraction I would include the following players:

Alcaraz/Nadal/Tsitsipas/ Medvedev/Ruud/Berrettini/Rublev/
​Auger-Aliassime/Sinner/Norrie/Schwartzman/Hurkacz/Fritz/Korda

I've left out Djokovic as I don't see him as a role model anymore after the Australia fiasco and obviously Federer would be there if he comes back. There are lots of other players lower ranked on the men's tour who are also very exciting players and too many to mention. The Andy Murray comeback effort will also be extremely interesting and hopefully successful.

For me Alcaraz is a huge stand out in terms of becoming an iconic figure like Nadal or Federer. The game has been so lucky to have had perhaps the 2 greatest role models of all time over the past 20 years or so and at the moment Alcaraz is the most likely player that I can see coming anywhere close to the all round skills of Roger & Rafa. He has just about every shot going, moves like lightning, competes like an animal, stays calm under pressure and most importantly has great humility similar to Rafa. I would imagine that he has a great family but the influence of his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero cannot be overstated. Ferrero was another wonderful competitor with great humility.

If Sinner improves physically, then he would be my 2nd choice as a humble warrior with all the skills to develop into a great player. Medvedev has still to persuade me that he is worthy of being considered as a positive role model for kids but all the rest of the players that I've listed would appear to be relatively sane and humble in this hugely competitive environment.

Obviously with crowds coming back the game is getting back to normal with a much improved atmosphere which makes a huge difference when watching on TV.

Women's Game

Here is my list of players who in my opinion provide the best box office attraction:

Swiatek/Krejcikova/Osaka/Badosa/Sabalenka/Halep/Sakkari/Gauff/
Raducanu/Bencic/Fernandez

I must admit to preferring women's doubles to men's as it represents more of what your average club player is trying to achieve in the one up and one back style of play. Men's doubles has some interesting moments but is too often serve, return and one volley unless on a clay court where you see more rallies. And as much as I get the importance of communication it can become rather tedious to watch players covering their mouth and facing away from each other. Just how many players on the tour can lip read from 20 metres away?

Raducanu beating Fernandez in the US Open was one of the greatest ever sporting stories and brought a huge amount of attention to tennis and the women's game. Fortunately, Raducanu is a wonderful role model who I am sure will produce many other great results in her career, but we need to give her time. From the outside it's always easy to criticise and yes I have been a bit surprised at the amount of endorsements she has taken on which one could argue might be having a detrimental effect on her game. Let's wait and see what happens over the next few years as I'm sure she will improve physically and mentally to the rigours of the tour. When that happens she will be extremely competitive on all surfaces.

Ashley Barty leaving the game is a huge loss and a massive blow to women's tennis. All sports need personalities to attract people to the game and I'm looking forward to seeing if Swaitek, Raducanu, Gauff and Badosa can step up and fill the huge gap left by the departure of Barty?