Since there are good connections between Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the town in Wales I am originally from, and Salsomaggiore, I decided to dedicate a part of this week’s long weekend to check out four Italian junior players, who were all playing the qualifications in the Grade 2 which is currently being held over there. This article focuses on Matilde Paoletti and Lisa Pigato; the second part will instead focus on Luca Nardi and on Matilde Mariani.
All these players are born between late 2002 and 2003, years which seem to be positive for Italian tennis since it seems that, beside them, a couple more of promising guys were born in those years (such as Melania Delai, Federica Sacco, Lorenzo Musetti, Lorenzo Rottoli: all of them have just started their experiences in the junior ITF circuit).
Before focusing on the players, a few disclaimers: first, their opponents were two years, if not three, older than them and this is important to take into account when expressing judgements; nevertheless, you should not think that my “special observed” players faced Andreescu or Kayla Day (or Tsitsipas, the older one: the younger brother was indeed playing the quali in Salsomaggiore): nope. We are speaking of much weaker opponents. Add to this that I will write about newbies of the ITF Junior Tour: the step from under 14-16 to the under 18 tour is not an easy one; as a coach (i.e.: Seba Vazquez) correctly pointed out, on ITF tour players must be much more consistent, since the ball comes back in their pitch many more times and one or two good shots are no more sufficient to score a point. This makes a big difference indeed, and very young players may have to adjust their game to meet this further challenge. Finally, the players I will write about just turned 14 or 15: at this early stage, taking also in account their lack of experience and sometimes physical development, things may change very swiftly. All the above to say that I don’t want to imply in this article that any of the players I will speak about are or will or will not become champions: I will just say they are “interesting”.
The first player I want to mention is Matilde Paoletti (a.k.a. “Grissino”), born in 2003 and currently placed 150th (Girls all) and 24th (Under 14) in the Tennis Europe rankings. Matilde won in the first qualification’s round against the 5th seed, a Rumanian girl who is 2 years older than her. I missed this match; I saw, instead, Matilde playing the second qualification round against an Italian who demonstrated not to be a real tester, and the third round, which she lost in 3 sets against another Italian, aging two years more than her. Matilde left me with a really good impression: having just turned 14, she is a sort of blonde “grissino” (i.e. very thin breadstick): she is 1.50 tall and she possibly weighs 30 kgs (with her winter coat on). Of course, when she serves, all she does is to hit the ball to the other side of the net and, of course, it’s easy for older and stronger girls to attack her. From the baseline she can use her opponent’s weight, thus the lack of power is less harming. Notwithstanding the above, her tennis is aggressive, if not flashy: she tries to go for winners and takes risks, being able to hit a line from whatever position of the court she is placed in: it’s impressive how neatly and precisely she can hit her shots; and, yes, she tries to impose her game, but in a wise manner, accepting to lift the ball or play defensive shots when convenient. Her defensive skills are actually amazing: she is real fast and reaches tons of balls before giving up; plus, she does not waste points: if she misses a shot, be sure that the mistake was a sensible one and not caused by will to overplay.
As is often the case for Italian players, she does not exceed with spin, even if I would not say she hits flat; she hits a double handed backhand, but often uses a one handed slice (very well hit), both in defensive situations or just to increase variety to her game. She plays noticeably vertical: she often goes for the net (being, then, often, lobbed…) and in most of cases she goes for hitting two volleys: even if she has to volley a fairly easy and high ball, she does not try to dig a hole in the ground; instead, she calmly hits a neatly placed first volley, gain the best position at the net and close with a second one. Sometimes the first non-definitive volley is even too graceful and gives the opportunity to the opponent to hit a passing shot in decent conditions; nevertheless I find the idea behind this attitude 100% correct, especially at 13-14 year old. It seems that Matilde applies Panatta’s teachings: let’s do well easy things, first. A last feature of hers I want to highlight is her flawless behaviour on the court: sometimes she yells, fine, but never in an exaggerated way; her attitude was gutsy throughout the match she lost and, at the end of it, I had the impression she was 100% satisfied, maybe having realised that her opponent was hitting too hard for her current level. I think that if Matilde gains some (quite a bit of) height and some weight, so to be able to develop a bit more power, she can indeed become a very interesting player: in my view, she already owns at least the basics of everything else she needs.
After Paoletti’s, I saw Lisa Pigato’s match: Pigato (a.k.a, the “Sphynx”) is a peer of Paoletti and the daughter of a well-known Italian coach (named Ugo): last week she has qualified for the main draw of the City of Florence, another Grade 2 tournament. This time she lost in the second round of the qualis, in three sets (1-6 6-1 5-7), against Italian Isabella Tcherkes Zade, who is three years older than her. The nickname I attributed to Lisa is due the fact that, whatever it happens in the court, she has always the same expression: she does not allow in any way her emotions to appear. By contrast, her opponent yelled throughout all the match, carrying out the job also for Lisa. Lisa is, I guess, normally tall for her age, but she is already well built (not a “grissino”); she can hit the ball with more pace than Paoletti, especially when serving, and currently she always beats her (but this means nothing). I started to follow Lisa’s match at the half of the second set, which she won 6-1: what she did to gain it, was just to play the ball in her opponent’s pitch and wait for her many mistakes. Though, at a point Tcherkes Zade ceased to look for a winner and miss every shot and started to try to “put the ball in” in first place. In my view, as soon as Tcherkes Zade won a couple of games in the third set playing as such, Pigato immediately readjusted, becoming herself more aggressive and increasing her level. A tactic which worked, since she took the lead and served for the match, gaining several match points. Eventually Lisa lost, but she did nothing wrong: all the credits to her opponent who took a “take it or break it” attitude and was able – and lucky enough – to hit two or three winners with her return to save the match points she faced (especially with her forehand: the only mistake I could find in Pigato’s strategy is that she could have played safe by serving more on her opponent backhand, in order to avoid being immediately attacked).
As per her tennis, Pigato has not developed a decisive serve yet: it’s not as week as Paoletti’s (Lisa is much thicker than Matilde), but it’s still quite a piece of cake for girls aging 16 or 17: she hits a lift in her opponent court, not much more than that. I think the best shot of Lisa is the crosscourt backhand, which she is able to hit very tight and from which she obtains tons of winners. Anyway, also her forehand is pretty good; for sure it cannot be defined a weak shot. Overall, Lisa’s tennis is less flashy compared to Paoletti’s: I have the impression that she owns winners from both sides, but she does not go for them so often, nor she does set up the exchange to gain immediate control; though, suddenly, she can go for a big hit or anyway try an attacking shot. My impression is that Lisa relies more on tactics than her peer Matilde and for this reason I think her tennis is more difficult to understand: maybe an amateur cannot even fully assess her potential, especially at this early stages. It’s like as if Lisa is able to hit big shots but does not try them until she thinks it is time to; as if she does not even want to impose her tennis, but more to exploit her opponent’s weaknesses. Pigato currently ranks 125th (all girls) and 16th (under 14) in Tennis Europe rankings: this to say that, ok, she may be less flashy than Paoletti, but she knows how to gain results (but her tennis is not limited to this: as I said I saw wonderful shots from her). Overall, I find Pigato to be more sneaky than Paoletti and I would like to see her playing more matches before trying to give an assessment: her game to me is like her appearance: a sphynx.
