The City of Perugia Tennis Internationals | GIMa. Tennis Cup is enriched with three dream wild cards: Fabio Fognini, Luciano Darderi and Federico Cinà. Three generations of players: history, present and future, enrich the already very high level of the scoreboard of the ATP Challenger 125 tournament organized by MEF Tennis Events at the Tennis Club Perugia from 9 to 16 June. The organization has assigned a wild card to the tennis player from Taggia, currently n.93 ATP, while Luciano Darderi will be the first seed following an invitation from Federtennis. Also in the main draw thanks to FITP is the young and promising Federico Cinà, fresh from the third round played at Roland Garros Junior. For the class of 2007, considered the future of Italian tennis, it will be the first Challenger tournament played in Italy. Pablo Carreno Busta will also be in the qualifiers. The former world no.10, winner of seven major circuit trophies and first champion in the history of the Perugia event, will play the second tournament of 2024 thanks to a wild card (after the first round played at Roland Garros) following a elbow injury that kept him away from the pitch for seven months.
Fognini ready to put on a show In addition to Francesco Passaro, Matteo Gigante and Giulio Zeppieri, the Italian troop in Perugia will also be able to count on Fabio Fognini. The former world no.9 and winner of the ATP Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo in 2019 will play by virtue of a wild card granted by the organization and is ready to amaze the passionate Umbrian public. After starting his 2024 in the first of the three shows organized by MEF in Tenerife, Fognini managed to return to the world Top 100 as initially planned. In the first six months of the new season, the current ATP number 93 played in the main draw of the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, reached the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Marrakech and put on a real show at the Internazionali BNL d ‘Italy in the first round victory against Daniel Evans. Among the players with the most appearances in the history of the national Davis Cup team, Fognini brings the number of Italians in the main draw in Perugia to ten (considering the Federtennis wild cards Darderi and Cinà). “We are happy with the level of the tournament because he is not always taken for granted on the Challenger circuit – said the director of the event, Francesco Cancellotti -. In the main draw there are seven Top 100 players, many Italians and some promising tennis players. It is a perfect mix that will provide a great spectacle for the public who will come to watch the matches at the Tennis Club Perugia.” To Cancellotti’s statements, we add the satisfaction of the president of MEF Tennis Events, Marcello Marchesini: “I am very curious about what awaits us in Perugia. To the many names present in the main draw, Pablo Carreno Busta has also been added, who will start from the qualifiers. He is an exceptional boy who really wants to compete again, even if he starts from the cadet board; after having been among the best in the world, as well as having won the first edition of this tournament and many other titles, it is not easy to start again and it takes determination. I wish him and all the tennis players good luck in this experience.”
Darderi, the Olympics pass through Perugia Old acquaintance of the tournaments organized by MEF Tennis Events, the exploits of the last few months have confirmed the important tennis skills of Luciano Darderi. The ATP number 40 has received a wild card from the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation and will be the first seed in the competition. Two Challenger titles arrived in 2023, the first in Umbria in Todi and the second in Lima, Peru, while in February the naturalized Italian tennis player defeated Facundo Bagnis to lift the first major circuit title in Cordoba. The class of 2002 is improving his best ranking week after week, thanks to excellent results between Challenger and ATP tournaments. In recent weeks, he has reached the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, before reaching the semi-final of the ATP 250 in Lyon. In just over a month he will be involved in the Olympic Games, where in singles he will represent Italy in Paris together with Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti and Matteo Arnaldi.
Federico Cinà, it will be a ‘first time’ in Perugia Excellent results at Junior level have always preceded the name of Federico Cinà. The tennis player from Palermo, born in 2007, has lifted four trophies among the under 18s, also reaching the semi-final of the US Open Junior last year and dragging the national team to the Davis Cup final. A pupil of his father Francesco and considered one of the points of reference for the future of local and international tennis, Cinà made his debut in the Challengers last year in Shenzhen, China; this will be his fourth presence in the cadet circuit, the first ever in Italy. The second FITP wild card for the City of Perugia Tennis Internationals | GIMa. Tennis Cup, today no. 974 in the world, is looking for the first victory in this category to continue writing a very important history.
