Italian Tennis Championships in Todi (23-06-2020)

Clicca qui per la versione italiana I went to watch the first round of the Italian tennis championships. To say that I would never have gone there without the pandemic is to state the obvious: we know that without the pandemic this event would never have existed. The tennis "overall" championships had become extinct in 2004, after a long agony, with decreasing participation, and also in this new edition, the cast, especially in men's event, has been poorer than expected. But after months of nothing one can be satisfied.

To attend, it was necessary to buy tickets online, on a site I had never heard of, which requires a code via text message and a confirmation via email to register, which came late. Once purchased the ticket, then, you have to wait for the confirmation email, which arrives after 45 minutes, and only after I have called the call center (they were very kind). I therefore leave after 2.30 pm, by now sure that I will see the afternoon session quite a bit started (the beginning was scheduled at 2.45 pm).

It is about 150 kilometers from my home to Todi. As the destination indicated by the GPS approaches I begin to fear that it is wrong, and in fact the designated place is a desert: I discover that the Tennis Club is actually 7 km away, but at least on the same road. Once you arrive, you understand that the venue is right the one because it is the only one in a few kilometers large enough to contain tennis courts, but there is no sign "Tennis Club Todi", let alone "Italian Championships" .

Mask on, temperature measurement and you enter. There was also a self-certification (4 pages) to print, but nobody asks for it. After three months of total blockade, I must say that the sign of the Italian Championships gives me an emotion similar to the Roland Garros one. The centre court is at the end: they let me in right away, but as I head towards my seat I remember that in tennis you can't move while the game is going on. I still have many doubts that tennis requires more concentration than many other sports that are played in a deafening noise, but for now these are the rules. I stop in a corner, from which I can still see the court.

The available seats are checkerboard: alternate places, staggered from one row to the other. Maintaining distancing is certainly not a problem; at a certain point there will only be 4 spectators. The other tribune, the invitation one is more crowded. I hoped to see Sonego or Fabbiano on the field, instead there are two that I have never heard of, such Rondoni and Gaio. I don't even know which of the two is the favourite: at first glance Gaio seems stronger, he has a wider set of shots. I check, and find that Gaio is seeded No. 2 and 130 in the world rankong (he also made some slams, I didn't remember it at all), Rondoni a lucky loser. The gap does not seem so wide: in the first set Gaio makes the decisive break in the 8th game and wins 6-3. He will also have a serve measured at 228 km / h, but it doesn't seem realistic.
The second set is long: there are many fought games. Gaio makes a break on the third game, then cpmes several times close to make the second, but Rondoni plays better than in the first set and resists. The heat is felt, I am also afraid of getting a sunburn. The mask (which I think I have never kept such a long time in a row) annoys at first, but then I don't care about it anymore. For the players, a novelty related to the emergency is that in the field change they sit opposite each other, so they don't need to cross ways.

Gaio also wins the second set 6-3. The final greeting takes place by contact of rackets. Once the players have left, an attendant dressed up like a ghostbuster comes for the sanitization, especially of the chairs. It's getting late and I understand that of the next match, between Fabbiano and Gigante, I will be able to see the beginning, maximum. In the break they interview someone on the court, too old to be a player: when he comes close to me I recognize, I think, Nargiso. Gigante, despite his name (giant), is a slender eighteen year old, n. 1100 of the world ranking, who played in the boys' Australian Open. I see just the first two games, which follow serves, then I go.

In a nutshell, I drove 300 km, both ways, to stay two hours in the sun to watch a match between two unknown tennis players. But after three months of watching past matches and e-sports, it was worth it.