With five days late, the spans of Roland-Garros were to have, Monday, June 7, the airs of Italian national holiday. By withdrawing Sunday before his round of 16 against Matteo Berrettini to preserve himself in view of Wimbledon, his priority, Roger Federer broke the atmosphere a bit. Whatever. Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti must respectively face Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for a place in the quarterfinals and with them, a whole country will be on the lookout for the feat against two giants who between them weigh 38 Grand Slam titles.
Thirty-eight years that France has been waiting for a successor to Yannick Noah? In this little game, Italy is doing “better”. It has been almost half a century since Adriano Panatta was crowned on Parisian clay, in 1976. Except that the famine could end among the transalpine neighbors.
When French tennis recorded its worst performance since the creation of the French Open in 1925 (no player has crossed the 2e tour), the Italian armada confirms its rebirth: this year, five of them – Matteo Berrettini, Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti, Marco Cecchinato and Fabio Fognini – qualified for the 3e Roland-Garros tower. In October 2020, in the autumn version of the tournament, two Azzurri had reached the eighth.
For the first time in its history, the country placed ten representatives in the Top 100 during this spring. France has one more unit. But the “Race” classification, which accumulates points over a calendar year and not according to performance from one year to another, is much more telling: five Italians in the Top 30 (better than any other country) , none among the French.
“We have brought tennis back to Italian homes, and I am delighted” (Matteo Berrettini, 9e worldwide)
Italian men’s tennis has, however, experienced an endless period of lean hardships. For decades there were some flashes, including the surprise semi-final of Marco Cecchinato – eliminated on Saturday at 3e turn by his younger brother Musetti – during the 2018 edition of the Parisian Grand Slam, bringing down Novak Djokovic in the process.
“It was kind of a trigger for all of us, told the World Matteo Berrettini, world No. 9 and leader of the Italian colony, a few hours before learning of Federer’s package. It helped us realize that it was not impossible. And then I won Gstaad [en juillet 2018], and once the first started winning, the others followed: Fabio [Fognini] won Monte-Carlo, [Lorenzo] Sonego has won two titles… ”
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