Italy places three players in the round of 16 at Roland Garros, and even already one in the quarterfinals thanks to Federer's package.
Sinner, Musetti, and Berretini, followed by the same trainer for years, benefited from a change in federal policy in the early 2000s.
What to consider a little earlier than France a successor to Adriano Panatta, the last Italian winner of the tournament.
It was in 1976.
At Roland-Garros,
One, Matteo Berrettini is already in the quarter-finals, thanks to the precautionary principle applied by Federer.
The other two, Jannick Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti will rise with the two ultimate challenges of the circuit in mind.
Collide Nadal and Djokovic with the best of five sets in the second week of the Grand Slam.
It might be fair this time around, but Italian tennis has definitely set a date for the next decade for Roland.
Decryption of the hype coming from Lazio, and its origins.
A free tennis channel
When we spoke of the despair of French tennis a few days earlier with Patrice Hagelauer, the former DTN and coach of Noah, he invited us to see the side of the Italian federal restructuring, with the creation of two distinct technical poles in Pisa for boys and Rome for girls at the beginning of the 2000s. In an interview with Le Figaro, Angelo Binaghi rather evokes the super tennis click, from the name of the free channel which plays tournaments 24 hours a day.
“Rather, it's our ability to promote our discipline, which has become very popular.
This made it possible to reach new audiences and brought young people back to the clubs.
"Cause and effect or not, Italy has almost tripled its number of licensees in twenty years, thus broadening its base of potential champions.
Long-term coaches
The Italian model, if it exists, is unique in that the coach-player couple is almost eternal. Piatti, the former coach of Djoko, Ljubicic, or Gasquet, has taken Sinner under his wing since the boy took up tennis in earnest at age 12. Berrettini has shared his daily life with Vincenzo Santopadre for more than ten years. Finally, the latest arrival, Musetti, does not envisage the rest of his career without Simone Tartarini, who has been taking care of him since his debut in the small club of La Spezia, at the age of 7. “He's like a second father to me and I don't think I'll ever be with another coach. “It's worth what it's worth, at this early stage of their career, but it is a point in common with a certain Hugo Gaston, accompanied by Marc Barbier since any kid. A difference anyway? Private or public,Italy does not make the distinction, while the federal tricolor system does not like ad vitam projects of this kind.
Working hard with my team everyday 👊🏼 pic.twitter.com/YBcyH5TKrT
- Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) April 18, 2021
A more muscular secondary circuit
At its lowest in the 90s / 2000s?
Italian tennis has gradually abandoned the organization of first-class tournaments before sticking to it again for ten years.
As a result, the country of Zucchero is the one that hosts the most challengers tournaments on its soil.
About twenty, against 27 in the United States, where the size of the population and the financial means to organize tournaments have nothing to do with it.
“So you don't have to travel far to play,” Berrettini explained two years ago to the
NY Times
.
It also helps because it's cheaper.
We can go to tournaments, with a physiotherapist, a physical trainer, a coach.
And then local tournaments allow you to get wild cards, which in turn allow you to gain experience faster than others.
"
Emulation by the group
When we talk about tennis, the most individual and competitive sport there is, we tend to forget that emulation by example can uninhibit a generation. Ricardo Piatti never tires of explaining how the 100% Italian women's final between Vinci and Pennatta at the 2015 US Open “changed the mentality of Italian tennis. Everyone started to believe that it was possible, so did the coaches ”. Exactly the same logic which pushed Tsonga, Monfils or Simon to surpass themselves, when Gasquet was breaking through on the circuit before them. On the men's side, Cecchinato's surprise semi-final in 2018 unlocked a mental lock in all his friends. “If the 71st in the world, who is not monstrous when you train with him, can beat Djoko to Roland, why not us? Berrettini recognized the moment he came out of the woods.
🎾 🇮🇹 🇮🇹 The Italians went crazy on court N ° 7 with a blow to the back of Lorenzo Musetti who responds to a spoon serve from Marco Cecchinato in the third set #RolandGarros
🔥 Follow all the matches: https: //t.co/2r5Z1AivZz pic.twitter.com/nQzLNbbbJQ
- France tv sport (@francetvsport) June 5, 2021
Complementary profiles
The emergence of this generation could have produced three or four guys of the same caliber, mentally and technically.
But none of that.
Our three bersagliers are nothing alike.
Berrettinni?
Buffalo service and laser forehand, American style.
Sinner?
Ultra-complete player and always on the attack.
Musetti?
Italian creativity, sometimes with a bit of Fognini comedy.
We ask Benjamin Bonzi, who has played two out of three several times.
“I found myself in 2017 on the Challengers with Berrettini, frankly, it was unbearable.
He was playing way too well and hitting way too hard on the forehand.
Musetti does not have the same profile.
He feels the game well, he creates a lot of uncertainty with his backhand, a bit like Wawrinka, and that is very strong.
He surely has the potential of a top 10, but after that remains an Italian.
He rides a bit of mechanics, he likes to look at himself on the ground.
When things aren't going very well, he talks a lot and tenses up quickly.
We could well have a glimpse of it against Djokovic.
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