The formidable boys of Italian tennis at Wimbledon

Wimbledon. It is the Wimbledon of surprises, of the top seeds falling one after the other, never so many in the first week of the tournament in both the men's and women's draws, but it is also and above all the Wimbledon of the Italians, of Jannik Sinner, Flavio Cobolli and Lorenzo Sonego, of the three boys who with their victories on Saturday in the third round of the Championship have confirmed the state of grace of Italian tennis, breaking a new record: for the first time in history, an Italian trio has reached the round of 16 of the London slam.

“First I met Richard Evans (great British tennis historian and journalist, inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2024, ed.) and he asked me: 'But what is happening in Italy that you dominate everywhere?'. And I replied: 'Dear Richard, make yourself comfortable, because we have just begun'”, Paolo Bertolucci, legend of Italian tennis, one of the four musketeers who lifted the famous Davis Cup in 1976, and winner of 12 doubles titles, all with Adriano Panatta, told Il Foglio. “We have endured the period of the Swedes, the period of the Australians, the period of the Americans and that of the Spanish, above all, now it's our turn, so let's enjoy this moment”, Bertolucci underlines.

In the tournament where the “herbivores” Lorenzo Musetti and Matteo Berrettini exit, respectively 2024 semifinal and 2021 final here at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Cobolli and Sonego enter: it's a relay, a continuous change. “Yes, it's all very beautiful. Apart from Sinner, who is a splendid constant, the actors change: there are no Musetti and Berrettini, who should have been our other two strikers on grass, and Cobolli and Sonego appear. Without forgetting the excellent path of Luciano Darderi and Mattia Bellucci”, Bertolucci tells Foglio, before adding: “It's a particularly happy moment also because we don't rely only on one player: there is a movement that gives hope and I believe that for a few years we will be at the top of the world. By now it is difficult for there not to be an Italian in the final stages of any major tournament”. Today's results start from afar, from targeted planning at federation level and beyond. "Serious programs have been made with teams that have worked and changed the somewhat provincial mentality of Italian tennis. Tennis is an international sport by definition because you play 95 percent of the year abroad. We struggled a lot to change the mentality, but now we are on the right path," says Bertolucci, who was nicknamed "golden arm" for his crystalline talent.

The satisfactions for Italian tennis come from both men's and women's tennis. "For years we lived off women's tennis, with Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci, Francesca Schiavone: now the time has come for the boys too, and thank goodness. Fabio Fognini was the one who gave the push, he set the tone", says the Italian tennis player. Paolo Bertolucci's Wimbledon was very different "because it was a much faster tennis, the courts were faster, the balls were faster. We played with Superga shoes with orange peel soles and on grass it was already a feat to stay upright", recalls the tennis player, who in 1973 reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, the semifinal at the Rome International and the twelfth position in the ATP rankings, his best ranking. "Now it's different, before serve and volley was mandatory, now if you do it there's no match. It's practically become a quick cement, let's put it that way", Bertolucci underlines. The atmosphere, however, is always the same. “You drive on the left, you drink tea at five and Pimm's. But above all you play on grass and it's special for that,” says Bertolucci, before concluding: “There's a tradition that is carried on. At least one day in your life, you have to come to Wimbledon.”

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