Usual daily appointment with TennisMania, the transmission of Dario Puppo on the OA Sport YouTube channel in the version dedicated to the Italian Internationals. It’s also about talking Paolo Canèas usual outspoken.
Obviously initial focus on the first semi-final: “Tabilo was impressive at the start, a ball speed that I was no longer used to seeing live, apart from Turin and Malaga with Sinner. He joked about it, anticipated it with the rebound, passed it, kept the dribbling rhythm. Zverev gets in there from the back and keeps the pace he wants, despite the other being left-footed and serving well. Afterwards we saw the level of a good player compared to a champion. Risking less, you go home with Zverev. But he had a chance in the second set. With Zverev, if you don’t serve two aces in a game, you’ll miss them, and quite easily too. On the back-to-back diagonal there is no match. Same goes for Zverev: if he serves two aces per game, if he’s always behind, we need to see how many margins of risk there are in every single point when he moves to command a forehand“.
The chapter on number 1 is inevitable: “Djokovic? He plays in the fresh air, rearranges his ideas, hugs some trees, does as he thinks best, hugs the trees, as long as he is committed and wants to play. Ok, Djokovic didn’t play well with Tabilo, but then he confirmed himself. If he plays like yesterday it takes a super Djokovic to beat him“.
Analysis on who lost the second semi-final: “Paul is very solid, fast, explosive, he responds very well to his backhand, he is fast, he looks for the forehand to open up the court. Player I like. With Hurkacz he gave away in important moments and then had to resort to the third set. He waited a little too long. He will also do well on the fast clay of Roland Garros. 3 out of 5 will be worth keeping an eye on“.
On Errani/Paolini: “Tactically they do the simplest thing: they play the ball on the pitch. Finished. The opponents respond on the pitch and do everything. And they thank you. They missed a ball in two sets. The others don’t make a point“.
Focus on Italians: “Physically Darderi is strong, he fights a lot, we discovered this recently, he has a lot of desire. Now we have to see in Paris. They help each other, they had a good tournament, they all have desire, I saw them training here in Rome, they have a good team, but they didn’t find good conditions. There was a virus that didn’t help many players. Something was in the air in Madrid. For the players then we’ll see. We leave in a week, everyone will want to be in good condition. If you go 3 out of 5 and hit the right scoreboard you can do well.”.
Starting from the now famous photo of Cahill in a Sinner key, he takes the opportunity to remember him: “There is his racket resting on the court with the balls. Cahill is my age, he’s from ’75, I know him well. But I knew Cash better, I always willingly punished him. Cahill is a good guy. When someone coaches and brings these players to these levels, how can you talk badly about them? He has always been modest, clean in playing. He reads very well and gives a lot of peace of mind to Sinner’s needs. With Vagnozzi a perfect team“.
