Reigning Monte-Carlo Masters 1000 champion Fabio Fognini is ready to make his come-back in the 2021 season after being sidelined by ankle surgery and Covid-19. Fognini is now training with 1989 Montecarlo and Rome champion Alberto Mancini, who coached Gaston Gaudio, Pablo Cuevas and Nicolas Lapentti.
Fognini is motivated by the excellent results of Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner in the past two seasons.
“Sinner abd Berrettini have secured a great future for Italian tennis in the next ten years. I am not jelous of the results achieved by Jannik. I could just envy that he is just years old”, said Fognini in an interview to Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Fognini confirmed that he will start the 2021 season in Antalya, which will be held from 5 to 13 January 2021.
Alberto Mancini has recently praised world number 17 Fognini in an interview to the ATP Website.
“His talent, his tennis and his natural ability are the qualities I appreciate more when I train with Fabio. He wants to really hit the final years of his career hard. He is motivated and wants to aim hard”, said Mancini.
Fognini started working with Mancini during the pandemic, which forced them to rethink their plans.
“The pandemic gave us time to reconsider and put ourselves in a different place. I think Fabio realised that he still has a lot to give. If he can maintain a level of fitness throughout the year that gives him peace of mind, with his game he can aim high, and he wants to. Fognini is working to not working to stay on Tour and just make it quietly through his final years. He is motivated to aim high”, said Mancini.
According to Mancini, Fognini is motivated to continue playing at high level with the goal to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin.
“His desire is to stay at that level and feel that, if he is well, he can compete on par with that group of players. We haven’t set Turina s a goal, but it undoubtedly must be in his mind. We are taking step by step. We have only started and it’s coming along nicely”. Mancini will travel with Fognini for about 20-25 weeks during the season. In the rest of the year the Italian player will be followed by Argentine coach German Gaich.
