Italian Open Tennis Highlights
Just back from a hugely successful trip to Rome with so many talking points about the tournament and Italian tennis in general:
Before putting down my thoughts I'd like to thank all of our clients from the UK, Oregon, New Zealand and Hawaii who helped to make it such a special trip. I hope that our international friends all got home safely.
My Rome thoughts.........
The Italian (Roman) crowd are pretty emotional and extremely partisan. With so many good Italian players in the competition there were many opportunities for the crowd to show their support which they truly did! On the plus side it made for a great atmosphere with many young Romans (probably football supporters) declaring their enthusiasm with great gusto especially in the big moments of the matches.The not so pretty side was when they would boo the opponent just for playing good tennis and in Nicolás Jarry's case having the audacity to beat their local heroes.
Sebastian Korda (above) in the match he won with local boy Flavio Cobolli also felt the wrath of some young Romans who throughout the entire match were casting aspersions on the choice of employment that his mum and girlfriend engaged in. Korda handled this with great dignity and only berated these "supporters" at the end of the match when the entire crowd then decided to boo him off the court. Not pleasant at all!
On a positive note all the young Italian players contributed enormously to the high level of tennis on display, possibly inspired by their new hero and role model, Janick Sinner? Even Fognini behaved pretty well in an excellent match with Dan Evans which has to be a first for him!
I discovered that there are 236 tennis clubs in Rome with mainly outdoor clay courts and the majority of the successful Italian male players have either grown up training there or have moved to Rome to be in a great environment for the development of their game. Clay courts, good coaching and lots of players make for producing quality.
Italian women are not doing quite as well as the men at this moment in time, but 2 of them still managed to win the doubles which was a fantastic effort. They were Jasmine Paolini (who grew up training at our club in Lucca) and Sara Errani (legend of Italian tennis). They were 5/7 0/4 down in their first match and then fought through to win the final with classic clay court doubles using a mix of all shots to dismantle many more powerful opponents. Watching them practice together you could see how much fun they had on the court which I firmly believe will always help any doubles team at whatever level.
Nicolás Jarry (below) was runner up in the men's final but what an incredible mental effort to get there when he continued to play his best tennis during all the important points showing great resilience and courage in doing so.
In the final he lost to an outstanding Zverev who was close to 90% first serve percentage hitting spots at an average of 125mph. Good to see Zverev back at a high level after his terrible ankle injury and I would expect him to be a major threat at the French open.He only lost one set in the entire tournament to the other wonderful player from Chile, Tabilo (below), who dismantled Djokovic and had the match in his hands with Zverev before submitting to nerves when playing in his first ever masters semifinal.
Iga Swiatek showed her absolute class by winning the tournament without losing a set and only in one set did she lose more than 4 games! Watching her practice you could see her absolute focus and determination to keep improving. She stated during the tournament that Nadal was an inspiration to her with his amazing attitude to hard work, respect for all of his opponents plus his wish to be remembered as a good person and role model more than his ability to win tennis matches. Tennis is in great hands with this kind of attitude from Swiatek,Sinner and Alcaraz.
Other highlights.....
Djokovic got hit on the head with a plastic bottle - and Federer was seen running from the grounds!
The Grand Stand Arena where we were seated has the best viewing of the entire tournament.
Getting a close up view of Nadal practicing and hoping that this is not the end? The access to practice courts in general is exceptional.
And my biggest highlight? How much for a cappuccino in local bars? Only 1 euro and it's 2 euros if you have a croissant thrown in! Italian bars and restaurants are such great value for money. As a coffee addict I saved a fortune compared to UK prices.
See you all next year!!
Just back from a hugely successful trip to Rome with so many talking points about the tournament and Italian tennis in general:
Before putting down my thoughts I'd like to thank all of our clients from the UK, Oregon, New Zealand and Hawaii who helped to make it such a special trip. I hope that our international friends all got home safely.
My Rome thoughts.........
The Italian (Roman) crowd are pretty emotional and extremely partisan. With so many good Italian players in the competition there were many opportunities for the crowd to show their support which they truly did! On the plus side it made for a great atmosphere with many young Romans (probably football supporters) declaring their enthusiasm with great gusto especially in the big moments of the matches.The not so pretty side was when they would boo the opponent just for playing good tennis and in Nicolás Jarry's case having the audacity to beat their local heroes.
Sebastian Korda (above) in the match he won with local boy Flavio Cobolli also felt the wrath of some young Romans who throughout the entire match were casting aspersions on the choice of employment that his mum and girlfriend engaged in. Korda handled this with great dignity and only berated these "supporters" at the end of the match when the entire crowd then decided to boo him off the court. Not pleasant at all!
On a positive note all the young Italian players contributed enormously to the high level of tennis on display, possibly inspired by their new hero and role model, Janick Sinner? Even Fognini behaved pretty well in an excellent match with Dan Evans which has to be a first for him!
I discovered that there are 236 tennis clubs in Rome with mainly outdoor clay courts and the majority of the successful Italian male players have either grown up training there or have moved to Rome to be in a great environment for the development of their game. Clay courts, good coaching and lots of players make for producing quality.
Italian women are not doing quite as well as the men at this moment in time, but 2 of them still managed to win the doubles which was a fantastic effort. They were Jasmine Paolini (who grew up training at our club in Lucca) and Sara Errani (legend of Italian tennis). They were 5/7 0/4 down in their first match and then fought through to win the final with classic clay court doubles using a mix of all shots to dismantle many more powerful opponents. Watching them practice together you could see how much fun they had on the court which I firmly believe will always help any doubles team at whatever level.
Nicolás Jarry (below) was runner up in the men's final but what an incredible mental effort to get there when he continued to play his best tennis during all the important points showing great resilience and courage in doing so.
In the final he lost to an outstanding Zverev who was close to 90% first serve percentage hitting spots at an average of 125mph. Good to see Zverev back at a high level after his terrible ankle injury and I would expect him to be a major threat at the French open.He only lost one set in the entire tournament to the other wonderful player from Chile, Tabilo (below), who dismantled Djokovic and had the match in his hands with Zverev before submitting to nerves when playing in his first ever masters semifinal.
Iga Swiatek showed her absolute class by winning the tournament without losing a set and only in one set did she lose more than 4 games! Watching her practice you could see her absolute focus and determination to keep improving. She stated during the tournament that Nadal was an inspiration to her with his amazing attitude to hard work, respect for all of his opponents plus his wish to be remembered as a good person and role model more than his ability to win tennis matches. Tennis is in great hands with this kind of attitude from Swiatek,Sinner and Alcaraz.
Other highlights.....
Djokovic got hit on the head with a plastic bottle - and Federer was seen running from the grounds!
The Grand Stand Arena where we were seated has the best viewing of the entire tournament.
Getting a close up view of Nadal practicing and hoping that this is not the end? The access to practice courts in general is exceptional.
And my biggest highlight? How much for a cappuccino in local bars? Only 1 euro and it's 2 euros if you have a croissant thrown in! Italian bars and restaurants are such great value for money. As a coffee addict I saved a fortune compared to UK prices.
See you all next year!!
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