Many topics were covered in the last episode of TennisManiabroadcast on the channel OA Sport Youtubeand conducted by Dario Puppo (Eurosport commentator). Issues related to current affairs were discussed with Guido Monaco, technical commentator for Eurosport. The latter, first of all, expressed his opinion on the news of the withdrawal of Camila Giorgieven if she did not communicate the matter directly.
Yesterday, in fact, it was made known through an official document from the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) that the Marche native has decided to retire. Obviously, the development of the story is quite curious: “The absence of a few weeks from the circuit foreshadowed physical problems, some of which in the past prevented her from obtaining better results. It can be said that this way of doing things is a bit in character. From a certain point of view I don’t mind it and it also makes me smile, in a good way, in an era where you publish whatever you do with your life. She, however, thinks differently“.
Then a focus was made specifically on Camila: “She lacked that fire inside, which could push her to always improve and from a sporting point of view she can be considered incomplete. I don’t think she could have won a Slam, but she could have remained permanently in the top-20 and top-30. Then I never understood all this denigration of the father, I don’t think it’s so fair, because in any case some high-level feedback has arrived. Camila had a very aseptic way of being on the pitch because for her all matches are the same. She gave some refinement to that risky game, but her problem was that a speck in her mechanism was enough to make her tennis unstable.“.
Expanding the discussion to the Italian women’s movement, we find ourselves talking about an important problem: “I can say from direct experience that the rosters of girls, compared to those of boys, are much fewer and there is a very serious recruitment problem. The feeling is that the best athletes are taken from volleyball, athletics, swimming and even women’s football. We then have five players in the top-100 and, with the exception of Lucia Bronzetti, the others are small and don’t have physiques like those of the best on the circuit. I therefore do not agree with the mechanism for assigning wild cards to Rome because it gives space to players, with all due respect, who do not have the level. Among the young people there is Matilde Paoletti, who however is having quite a few physical problems, but in terms of structure she is certainly talented“.
Insight into Matteo Berrettini’s decision to leave the Rome tournament: “After a very encouraging recovery, winning Marrakech, he developed tonsillitis, unable to train. It makes sense for him to skip these Internationals. It’s a bit like the management that Sinner is using, the bad thing is that we have to get used to these sacrifices at the last minute. On grass it seems to be the best path for him, even if I’m sorry not to see him on clay because tennis-wise he can play very well“.
Monaco was then asked to make a comparison between Matteo Arnaldi, Flavio Cobolli and Luciano Darderi, among the most interesting tennis players of this new generation in Italy: “I think Arnaldi is the most complete of these three and we have shown that we have a superior level on hard courts. I think the Ligurian can make a trip into the top-20 and stay in the top-30. As for Cobolli and Darderi, they are two great competitors and have improved some aspects of their tennis, but I believe they still have technical limitations, especially on hard courts.“.
The Eurosport technical commentator then made a revelation about Arnaldi: “He feels very confident, he has the attitude of a top player on the pitch. He feels like a future champion. It’s good because, when he competes, he has to be convinced of becoming number one. As an observer, however, I struggle to see him as a top player“.
In conclusion, a joke about Rafa Nadal: “He trained a lot more in Rome and made it clear that he is quite optimistic. Even going against what I have argued in the last two years, I think he can get to the end of the Italian Internationals, also considering the absences that there are“.
