Giorgio Galimberti was the great guest of the weekly episode of TennisMania, a broadcast hosted by Dario Puppo (journalist and commentator for Eurosport) and visible on the OA Sport Youtube channel. The former Italian player, also a protagonist in the Davis Cup, became Luca Nardi’s coach starting from this season.
On his tennis career, Galimberti stated: “It was a career that could have been better, but with hindsight I consider myself a lucky person because I had the opportunity to play on important fields and experience very strong emotions. Looking back I would have changed something about my path, but it can’t be done. What I try to do well is what I do now, that is, working with the academy first in San Marino and then deciding to build my own reality in Cattolica. Now I try to treasure all the experiences of my life, as a player, as a coach and as an entrepreneur“.
On Nardi’s characteristics and his feat with Djokovic at Indian Wells: “In his way of communicating he is frank, comes across very true and is not set up. He is also learning to manage a certain type of notoriety, because in any case his victory against Djokovic catapulted him into a totally different world. The next day we were at Indian Wells and it was stressful and tiring, not only for him but also for me… For him, young and unaccustomed, the media coverage of the next day had a huge impact on the following match with Tommy Paul. It drained him of all his energy. However, he loved it, even in the press conference he didn’t even know he was playing with Paul…“.
“We worked on making him understand that today’s men’s tennis revolves around forehand. Even great backhand hitters like Djokovic and Wawrinka, except for someone called Paire, build with that shot, but it takes a good forehand to finish. He who has quality, the ball comes off the strings, has timing skills and manages to stay close to the line, we need to make sure he turns a lot on the forehand. On fast track it is more complicated, while now on clay we are training to swing a lot. Biomechanically it is studied that with the forehand in the fan you find angles that the backhand cannot find, it is a question of geometry. Against Nole the forehand made the difference and he is convincing himself to work more with that shot“, continues the coach from the Marche region.
Galimberti then revealed some background on the preparation for the match with Djokovic: “I absolutely didn’t think about booking the plane for several reasons. First of all because it’s not in my nature, I always see the glass as half full so I’ll try all the way. Then there were some aspects that made me think well. Djokovic had struggled with Vukic the day before, so he wasn’t at his best. Not the best, Djokovic still remains a top player, a top 10 player. I said this to Luca: ‘Your fear is only one, that of reliving a bad emotion like that of Monte Carlo with Musetti (in which he lost 6-0 6-0, blocked by tension, ed.). You have to stay calm for several reasons. In the first rounds Djokovic tends to let his opponents play, then he has a type of game which, given how you are playing now, will allow you to make some good plays and good points. I don’t know if you’ll win, but I’m sure you’ll have fun.’ I have named this aspect many times. He is young, a lover of sporting fun in the game. In training if we put in a challenge he likes it and it stimulates him. This aspect reassured him“.
On the progress of the match: “The first two games were very balanced, also thanks to a couple of errors by Djokovic. However, there were some long exchanges where Luca understood that he could maintain the baseline exchange with Nole well. There he believed it. If he had started badly, immediately contracted, with the Serbian running away, it would have been different. Djokovic objectively gave us some important points in the first set, but then he started to play well. The third set was of a very high level from Luca, one of the best in his life. He played some virtuoso shots, vertical shots along the forehand and backhand lines, a superb volley game, and then crowned the third set with a shot that every now and then gets lost along the way, the first serve. He closed with an ace and in my opinion this is important. Even against Zhang in the previous round he had been peremptory on serve in the third set and this gave me hope for being able to have a good match, then the victory was the icing on the cake“.
On finding the right balance for Nardi: “It must combine the two things, the professional part with the playful and feel-good part. He has built a team that I believe is professional, but also fun and carefree, which makes him enjoy tennis better, which is truly demanding. This year we have toured a lot: Australia, India, America and now Naples. We don’t stop, we want to do many tournaments to build the ranking. He needs that part too. It is no coincidence that he is linked to Pesaro, family is important to him. He was lucky enough to have an academy in Cattolica, a 20-minute drive from Pesaro. The perfect structure has been created to be able to work. He also worked well with his previous coaches, maybe it was time to make a change, but credit to them for bringing him to that point“.
“One of the aspects we worked on right from the start is the management of the endgame, changing the training volumes a bit. He was used to doing many sets and when he got bored he changed exercises. My idea was to take him a little further to increase his attentional capacity, which needs to be trained. Little by little he is absorbing these skills and they showed themselves in these matches. The game we lost to Goffin was a great game too. You could see there was something good about that week. I’m also sorry for Miami, because he arrived there totally destroyed by the media problem. You have to get used to it. Even Jannik wasn’t very available to the media and press at the beginning because he tried to ease the pressure he was exposed to a bit, while now he’s totally at ease with him. Luca will probably also need some time to get used to the notoriety and people stopping you. At the airport in America he didn’t walk, in the 2-3 days after the match it was very powerful news on a global level“, adds Galimberti.
On the incredible sequence of events at Indian Wells: “Third lucky loser it is very difficult for you to enter, especially in a 1000. However, the ATP has now put in place a fantastic rule. The player who withdraws still gets the prize money, so if one isn’t feeling well he can give another a chance and for the show it’s a more honest thing. Etcheverry wasn’t well and gave the opportunity to Luca, we didn’t expect it. When we looked at the scoreboard and saw that it was against Zhang to go to Djokovic, we couldn’t believe it. It was the perfect week, because playing with the No. 1 in the world is certainly educational“.
On the surface where Nardi will be able to express himself best: “I am convinced that he plays very well on outdoor hard courts. However, he is surprising me even here in the first days of training on clay. In the end, even on clay he can be a very uncomfortable player, but he needs to be more proactive. He must not get behind and hit too many counter-attacking balls, but he must be a universal player, therefore using all the cuts and runs to the net, the counter-tempo attacks. He must be varied and unpredictable. If he can do this, even on earth he can do a lot of harm“.
