Almost a year has passed since May 26th when Gianluca Bertorello, Alessandro Dedominici, Lorenzo Ferrato, Francesco Gaboardi, Alberto Mondino and Enrico Ponsi received an email from Lavazza with the subject “Lavazza Roland-Garros” sending them to Paris. Six friends of Revello, then between 26 and 29 years old, called to do what a few days earlier they had become the Carota Boys for the whole world: cheering for Jannik Sinner. If everyone went to Roland Garros, in subsequent tournaments someone would often stay at home for work reasons, but always feeling part of that orange adventure that began on 12 May 2023, when at the Foro Italico in Rome five of them wore the costumes from carrots bought online for thirty euros or so to watch the match between Sinner and Kokkinakis. Five, because Alberto had put off the purchase for too long and so he made his debut in civilian clothes, not without immediately regretting it, as emerges from one of the many background stories that the most famous fans of the Italian tennis player number 2 in the world have revealed in «Sogno orange. Six friends and a crazy love for Jannik Sinner”, their first book published by Rizzoli.
The Carota Boys, fresh from the Rome Internationals – where despite Sinner’s absence due to injury they were protagonists – and about to leave for their second Roland Garros, present it tomorrow at 4pm at the Open Baladin in Cuneo in dialogue with the collaborator de The print Giulia Poetto. The 238 pages of “Orange Dream”, in addition to giving a face and a story to the six through specific focuses, retrace ten months for which an often abused word like “fable” is the most appropriate term. From the debut in Rome to the thousand people who wanted to watch the Australian Open final with them on Sunday 28 January at the Nuvola Lavazza in Turin, up to the “madness” of the 28 hour journey to support their favorite in Rotterdam, the book allows grasp what’s inside the carrot costumes.
Yes, the Carota Boys are now a limited company with 135 thousand followers on Instagram, the authors of a book, but still – and above all – six childhood friends, aware of having ended up in a game in which to win it is not enough to win two or three sets, and injury is always around the corner. To play it, they chose to surround themselves with seasoned professionals and to always put first one of the passions that bind them, that for “Carotina”, as they affectionately nicknamed Sinner. An orange fire that led them to realize dreams they didn’t even know they had, like exchanging shots with their idol on a tennis court set up specifically, chatting as if he were one of them, having a WhatsApp group shared with him.
The meeting, organized by Scrittorincittà, has free admission; you can book at the link bit.ly/sogno-arancione-sic.
