Net!

Semifinals Highlights from Sergio Tacchini

Svetlana Kuznetsova (7) b Victoria Arenka (6)  6-2 6-4

Dinara Safina (1) b Venus Williams (4)  6-7 6-3 6-4

A few hours before the beginning of the female tournament’s semifinals, we met Sergio Palmieri, director of Internazionali d’Italia and former manager of John McEnroe. A former tennis player, too, Sergio followed in his father’s footsteps (Giovanni Palmieri won this tournament in 1934). We asked him to tell us about the crucial moments of his long career.

Interview with Sergio Palmieri from Sergio Tacchini

“After taking part to Internazionali d’Italia as a tennis player”, says Sergio, I have been the tournament’s director in the years 1979 and 1980. Nearly twenty years after, in 1999, I was re-engaged fot that same role”.
In his long and successful career, Sergio has been a manager for McEnroe, Noah and Boris Becker, a sports manager and a tournament director and organizer. But his first steps were taken on the courts. “I started out as a tennis player”, he explains. “My father was a great player, he won here in Rome and in Montecarlo, and I did my best to try and follow in his footsteps. At the end of my competitive career, I worked as a marketing director for Sergio Tacchini. It was 1972 and the brand had been launched just a few years before. At the end of the Seventies I accidentally met John McEnroe and became his manager, a job that lasted for nearly 20 years”.
Finally, in 1998, Sergio was asked to come back to Internazionali, a proposal he gladly accepted. “I love my job and I love being the director of this tournament”, he concludes.

27-year-old Flavia Pennetta from Brindisi, Italy, has been the star of this wonderful sunny day at Internazionali d’Italia. The player met her public at Foro Italico, signed some autographs inside Sergio Tacchini’s stand and played on the court at Kids Village, a space devoted to the youngest tennis fans.

Flavia Pennetta at Foro Italico from Sergio Tacchini

The demonstration paddle court, which was fitted for the first time this year beside the regular tennis courts, has been one the most crowded areas at Foro Italico.

We asked Daniel Patti, president of Federazione Italiana Gioco Paddle, to tell us about the history and the main features of this amazing discipline.

Interview with Daniel Patti from Sergio Tacchini

“Paddle tennis was invented in Mexico in the Seventies”, explains Daniel. “ Its inventor was willing to play tennis at home but had no room for a proper tennis court, so he decided to exploit his own containment wall and terraced garden and created a new court concept, building a second wall. Since the tennis racket transmitted an excessive speed to the ball, he started to use a stringless wooden racket which looked like a paddle. Paddle tennis was born”.

“We imported paddle tennis in Italy in 1991, but we regard this edition of Internazionali d’Italia as some sort of debut. Up to now, we’ve had around 300 children on the court every single morning. Each day we offer a demonstration match with the participation of some national paddle tennis teams. Our main goal is to allow the kids and their instructors to become familiar with this discipline. The ball boys seem to be particularly fond of paddle tennis. They spend every little bit of their spare on this court, playing and having fun”.