It doesn’t happen very often that someone in the press corps at a Grand Slam tournament gets into the spotlight, even if for just a few hours. Well, that happened to our Chief Editor Ubaldo Scanagatta during Day 1 of the 2019 Australian Open.
While he was taking part to Rafael Nadal’s after match press conference, Ubaldo, who had arrived in Melbourne only 24 hours earlier and still had to get over the jet-lag, fell asleep while sitting in one of the chairs of in the interview room, and things got rolling from there.
“I had slept only three hours the night before and it had already been a very stressful day – Ubaldo said after the curious “incident” – so I dozed off a little. I was sitting next to Benito Barbadillo, Nadal’s agent, someone Rafa looks at very frequently during press conferences”. Apparently, coaching doesn’t happen only on court…
“I guess Nadal saw me sleeping, and then said what you can see in the video, that his press conference was not that interesting that day. Benito nudged me with his elbow and woke me up, and at that point I realized that everyone was looking at me, including Rafa, who said ‘Buongiorno Ubaldo’”.
😴
Nothing gets past @RafaelNadal #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/PebIxmYg4t
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 14, 2019
The video immediately became viral, even the Australian Open Twitter account tweeted it, and almost any outlet covering the event reported it, one way or another. “I started receiving WhatsApp messages – Ubaldo continued – mainly from my daughter sending me URLs of websites reporting the fact. She urged me to put the video on Instagram, which I did, with the help of my colleagues. Well, it’s still good publicity for Ubitennis!”
One way or another, Ubitennis is always at the forefront of tennis!
