There are numbers one of tennis born from planning to the limit of the madness of parents devoured by the ambition: it is the story at the base of Open, the autobiography of Andre Agassi, and this is what evokes the name of Martina Hingis, baptized already thinking about the footsteps of Martina Navratilova. How many will be lost of “initiates” so, without the world having news of them? No one and then there is Jannik Sinner, the number one in the world, the first in the history of Italian tennis, with thousands of points ahead of the insector, Carlos Alcaraz. Jannik is the son of a family who today as a champion, always thanks for never having put him prey for having educated him in the freedom and responsibility for choosing. Here, Jannik is the outcome, hopedable but not predictable, of the programming of a federation (then Fit, today Fitp, because it also includes the Padel) that a fifteen years ago he had the courage to ask where he was wrong, In a country that has always produced samples from fencing to volleyball, from curling to sail, and which, however, has waited for 45 years at the men’s level a tennis player capable of reaching a Slam final.
It was 2010. After three decades the result is not Jannik, but the iceberg of which Sinner is the summit of the emerged tip that matters Seven Italian tennis players in the first 50 in the world, a point more point less, and of the submerged that is the work behind a sporting success, under everyone’s eyes, but also economic: + 900% of the revenue and registered from 140 thousand to over 600 thousand between 2003 and 2023. In 2001 at the top of the Federation, back from commissioner and indebted, Angelo Binaghi, engineer, re -elected last September for the seventh sent with the Bulgarian percentage of 96.1%, had risen as president: a consent that gives him luxury, which does not deny himself, to remove himself from time to time from the shoes.
“The secret is the investment in the formation of tennis teachers of the Youth Sector Under 10- 16”, says Michelangelo Dell’Edera, who of the “Renaissance”, or perhaps of the “Revolution”, has been witnessed and protagonist, since 2010 Director of the Higher Training Institute (ISF) Roberto Lombardi, former National School of Masters of Federtennis. “In our small way, a phrase by Nelson Mandela inspired us:” Education is the best weapon to change the world “. It was a matter of changing only the microcosm of tennis, but it worked: “We have banned competitions for psychologists, physiotherapists, nutrition experts, tools of tools, because we needed to raise our sports culture and why the Federation, in supporting the talented boys who grew, could give them the support of these figures: the talents have always been there, but it was necessary to transform the skills into skills”.
The key word of the new era is “decentralization”: “We have brought training in the suburbs, so those who want to become a tennis teacher can now prepare in his region without coming to Rome, and open calls for competitions for circles who rented fields but did not have the master”, and in the meantime the 1,200 tennis schools of 2010 are now 2,700. “We no longer convene the most promising kids from 12 years to the Federal Technical Center of Tirrenia more permanently, but we help the clubs in which they train creating a virtuous environment and a synergy, supporting the coaches with the professionalism that serves and with scholarships for international youthful activity, without taking the boys from competitions for competition for clubs that rented fields but did not have the master”, and in the meantime the 1,200 tennis schools 2010 are now 2,700. «We no longer convene the most promising kids from 12 years to the Federal Technical Center of Tirrenia more permanently, but we help the clubs in which they train creating a virtuous environment and a synergy, supporting the coaches with the professionalism that serve and with scholarships for international youth activity, without taking the boys away from home or from the place where they train: In this way the teachers no longer have reason to ask themselves: “What do I need to commit myself if then when it becomes good they take it to me?”. And the family faces the path with greater serenity: we worry less than the sporting results and more of forming people well, because if a boy does not arrive, at least it is not lost ».
To create what Dell’Andera calls “technical spider web” on the national territory, the Federation uses 155 provincial technicians, talent scouts that make gatherings with the children of 8-10 years: “The goal is not to win immediately or soon, but create the conditions to do it in due course”.
Just look at today’s Italian tennis players, from Sinner to Berrettini, passing through Musetti, Cobolli, Sonego, Arnaldi and Darderi, very different from each other, but with in common the ability to resolve the exchanges, to understand that the times of the Italian marathon runners of the racket on the red earth are far away. This is also not accidental, but the son of a choice, indeed of two projects on the subject of fast and covered fields: «Import that 80% of the points of the ATP and WTA world ranking (the male and female professional associations of tennis, editor’s note) are assigned on hard surfaces (not land and not grass, ed.), We have thus transformed 30% of the fields on earth and guaranteed a sufficient amount of covered fields to give continuity of training during the winter”. Teaching also had its revolution: «We prevail to service and response, which are not shots, but actions of the beginning of decisive game in modern tennis.
Not only that, in the old typology before the how (the technique) came; Then when (the tactic); Finally why (the strategy). Now let’s start with why: the strategy adapts to the boy’s potential. The technique is individual, everyone has their own, thus, respecting the biomechanical principles, we emphasize the personalities ». And this explains why the Italian model, which also ended up in the New Yorker, shapes champions, but not with the mold.
(Service released on the Christian family 45/24)
