Three Italian tennis fans flew to Wimbledon with no certainty but just equipped with an incredible determination to secure one of the 500 daily tickets for a seat on Centre Court where Djokovic is playing on the inaugural day and on court 14 to support fellow countryman Lorenzo Musetti against Juan Pablo Varillas
By Ubaldo Scanagatta
Three members of Tennis Club Biassono (Milan) took off from Orio al Serio, on a flight to London they had booked time ago. Just 60 euros each, to fulfil their dream of a first-time Wimbledon on the legendary Centre Court. And not on any day, but on the first Monday of the Championships. Tradition has it that Centre Court opens with the defending champion playing his first round. This year it was Novak Djokovic for the fourth consecutive time (in 2020 the tournament was not played). Against Argentinian Pedro Cachín.
The three arrived in London on Sunday around noon. They immediately went to a Decathlon shop, looking to buy a tent for the night. “We were lucky, we weren’t so sure we would find one…there were just one person tents”. £70 each. Then they went to Wimbledon Park where they joined the queuing up. After a couple of hours they were told by a steward that they were among the 500 lucky ones who could buy a ticket, just £80, for the Centre Court on Monday. Seats No. 472, 473, 474.
The three members of Tennis Club Biassono, Pier Patruno with Luca and Stefano Adami (father and son: I immortalized them in a photo), put up their tents, settled down quietly and after a snack went to sleep. The reported temperature was 12 degrees. Alarm set for 6am, then another queue, till the gates opened at 10 o’clock. They dashed to Court 14 to secure the seats to watch the match of Lorenzo Musetti. Sitting just four seats away from them were Filippo Volandri, Italian Davis Cup captain, and Ubitennis reporter, namely myself. On the other side, just opposite us, Musetti’s coach Simone Tartarini, whom we interviewed at the end of the match, and former Italian tennis player Paolo Lorenzi.
Very close to us a group of Varillas supporters, including a cousin of Varillas, draped in a red and white Peruvian flag. We started chatting and he told me that Jaime Yzaga, the strongest Peruvian tennis player in history (if we don’t consider Alex Olmedo who won Wimbledon in 1959 but had acquired American citizenship) has founded a Tennis Academy in Lima and is a consultant for football team Alianza Lima that has won the last two championships. The most famous player is Pizarro, who has played in Bundesliga for Bayern and in Premier League for Chelsea. Yet he is not so popular in Peru. It seems there are two young Peruvian tennis prospects, who are expected to make a breakthrough quite shortly. I noted their names, Buse and Bueno.
We’ll see. But the winners of the day are Patruno and the two Adami. Almost heroic.
Translated by Kingsley Elliot Kaye
