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The Italian Tennis Open is back in Rome, and I'll be back after a year off, hoping to see something, since the weather forecast is not good.
I lost count of the times I've been there: the first time I did not even live in Rome, if I'm not mistaken it was 1993. It was one of the first days of the men's tournament (then they were separated) and I naively had shown up at the gates thinking I would find tickets. Instead, those for the Centre Court were found only by scalpers, and at very high prices. I had to go for a "ground" (also from a scalper, if I remember correctly), which then excluded only one court, If I'm not mistaken, then there was not even the current Centre Court, there was still the old one, what today is Pietrangeli. I could then access the 6 courts, one next to the other, which then like today were the courts from 1 to 6. The only match I remember is the one between the Italian Pistolesi and the German Steeb, dminated by the latter 6- 1, 6-0.
I returned there a few years later, once I moved to Rome, and I do not even think it was the first year, but from then to 2012, when I moved to Frankfurt, I missed few editions, at least of the men's tournament. In the early years I usually went to see an evening session, sometimes the semifinals, never the final. Of the evening sessions I remember especially a match, lost, of poor Luzzi, in the second round. More recently, I remember Gulbis that I did not know and conquered me. Of the semi-finals I remember 2005: the first time of Nadal, impressive, especially phisically, for being 19.
Later I took the habit of taking a day off for the women's tournament. The difference with the men's tournament, in terms of attendance, was impressive: in the first days there was the desert. I was sorry for the players, who did not deserve such a disinterest. Actually, I preferred the women's tournament, both because it was less crowded, and because Italians were better. I remember the first time I saw Vinci play, and I was captured by her varied playing. Most of the times, however, she ended up losing: if someone had told me that one day she would get to the final in a Grand Slam, I would have been in doubt whether to laugh or call a therapist. A curious memory is of when, arrived at the court, I found a match between a European and a Japanese, and I did not know who was who (the European was Jankovic, which has oriental features).
When I returned to Italy in 2016, the tournaments had merged. I'm sorry of this, both because we have only one week of entertainment available, or because I can no longer see the women in peace. The advantage, however, is that there is a great participation also for the first women's rounds. I went there on Tuesday (the photos below refer to then), and I was really impressed by the crowd. I do not remember much of the matches, I only remember Azarenka.
The Italian Tennis Open is back in Rome, and I'll be back after a year off, hoping to see something, since the weather forecast is not good.
I lost count of the times I've been there: the first time I did not even live in Rome, if I'm not mistaken it was 1993. It was one of the first days of the men's tournament (then they were separated) and I naively had shown up at the gates thinking I would find tickets. Instead, those for the Centre Court were found only by scalpers, and at very high prices. I had to go for a "ground" (also from a scalper, if I remember correctly), which then excluded only one court, If I'm not mistaken, then there was not even the current Centre Court, there was still the old one, what today is Pietrangeli. I could then access the 6 courts, one next to the other, which then like today were the courts from 1 to 6. The only match I remember is the one between the Italian Pistolesi and the German Steeb, dminated by the latter 6- 1, 6-0.
I returned there a few years later, once I moved to Rome, and I do not even think it was the first year, but from then to 2012, when I moved to Frankfurt, I missed few editions, at least of the men's tournament. In the early years I usually went to see an evening session, sometimes the semifinals, never the final. Of the evening sessions I remember especially a match, lost, of poor Luzzi, in the second round. More recently, I remember Gulbis that I did not know and conquered me. Of the semi-finals I remember 2005: the first time of Nadal, impressive, especially phisically, for being 19.
Later I took the habit of taking a day off for the women's tournament. The difference with the men's tournament, in terms of attendance, was impressive: in the first days there was the desert. I was sorry for the players, who did not deserve such a disinterest. Actually, I preferred the women's tournament, both because it was less crowded, and because Italians were better. I remember the first time I saw Vinci play, and I was captured by her varied playing. Most of the times, however, she ended up losing: if someone had told me that one day she would get to the final in a Grand Slam, I would have been in doubt whether to laugh or call a therapist. A curious memory is of when, arrived at the court, I found a match between a European and a Japanese, and I did not know who was who (the European was Jankovic, which has oriental features).
When I returned to Italy in 2016, the tournaments had merged. I'm sorry of this, both because we have only one week of entertainment available, or because I can no longer see the women in peace. The advantage, however, is that there is a great participation also for the first women's rounds. I went there on Tuesday (the photos below refer to then), and I was really impressed by the crowd. I do not remember much of the matches, I only remember Azarenka.
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