taken from Bonfiglio’s facebook page
The big day has come: the entry list of the Trofeo Bonfiglio is finally out!! Really, up to now, it seems glorious stuff even if, of course, between today and the withdrawal deadline – set on 8 May – the attendance may lose several elements (and it will, as normally happens), some of which may be top notch.
Anyhow, let’s be positive: this year the Italian Open will start on 21 May (the qualification rounds will be played on the 19th and 20th).
As an exception to what I usually do, I will start (and spend a few lines: amazing!!) on the boys’ tournament: 4 top 5s (including no. 1 Sebastian Korda, who has already participated last year, having lost in the third round against Sebastian Baez – current rank 2, he is also enrolled), 8 top 10s and 16 top 20s are signed in the boys’ entry list; the cut for the main draw – 46 spots overall – is set at 57, as at today. When I wrote last year’s “Road to Bonfiglio” the cut was instead set at 70.
Having complied with my duties as per the boys’ event, let’s enter “my territory” now. The girls’ entry list is not as good as the boys’, but it is still very interesting: we have 6 top 10s and 12 top 20s and the main draw’s cut is set at 62 (as it was in 2017, at the time I wrote the relevant article). Considering, though, that Kostyuk, Osuigwe, Liu and Anisimova have all quitted the Junior Tour (even if I expect that Liu and Osuigwe will play some Junior Slam events), it was actually impossible to have a better attendance than the one shown by the entry list. Neither the defending champion Rybakina nor last year’s finalist BerghemIga, will attend this edition: of course, Rybakina quitted the Junior Tour due to age constraints and also Swiatek, even if younger, is 100% focused on the pro-tour (though, she may play at least the Junior French Open and Junior Wimbledon). The Australian Open champion, En Shuo Liang is enrolled and other girls we have spoken a lot about are. Starting from the most highly ranked: Osorio Serrano, Alexa Noel, Clara Tauson, Maria Lourdes Carle, Italian Elisabeda Coociareedo – who will of course have the advantage of benefitting from the support of the public –, the “-ova” Daylana Hewitt, Eleonora Molinaro are supposed to play and I would be surprised to see any of them withdraw, as they are all currently focused a lot on the Junior Tour. Other interesting names we can find in the main draw are top 10 Naho Sato, the Swiss Lulu Sun and Margarita Bylokin, who is performing so well this year. I must say, though, that I am greatly disappointed by the absence of Clara Burel: I would have loved to see her. Maybe she is still upset with me due to the cheeky article I wrote on the match she played against Hewitt and she decided thus to punish me by not even enrolling in the entry list.
Also in the qualifying entry list, we have old friends of this website: first to mention, of course, the unique, splendid and awesome N.B.O. (oooh…N.B.O…), who will turn 17 on the first day of the qualification matches: I have promised the girl to provide her with the best cookies ever as a birthday present – i.e. Babbi –[1]; don’t tell her, though: I don’t want the present to get spoiled. Ok, Babbi are not really cookies, they are wafers, but they will anyway work just fine: for sure, after I make N.B.O. get to know Babbi, she will want to marry me and we will enjoy a happy life together.[2] Other girls who are enrolled and whom I would be happy to see are Helene Pellicano – I wrote several pieces on her last year -, Italian Melania Delai and Daria Frayman; the latter gave a tough time to Molinaro in Florence and strangely enough, even if she is Russian, she trains in Italy (together with Italian strong junior Musetti).
One last observation: compare this entry list with the one of the Brasilian Grade A or the Mexican Grade A: you can find the relevant data on the latter tournaments in this piece. Tell me if it makes any sense that, following the reform of the Junior ITF ranking points system, these three tournaments award the same ranking points.
To end up with Bonfiglio, as I already did last year, I recommend you to visit the tournament’s Facebook page, where you can find pics of past legendary champions and of recent ones too: https://www.facebook.com/pg/tennisclubmilanoalbertobonacossa/photos/?tab=album&album_id=482589065110342.
Let’s now spend just a few lines also on the entry list of the Città Di Santa Croce, which will be held one week before the Italian Open. This is also a very good entry list. As per the boys’ event, 4 top 10s – Chun Hsin Tseng (3), Timofey Skatov (5) Nicolas Mejia (7) and Juan Manuel Cerundolo (10) and 9 top 20s are expected to play. As per the girls, 1 top 10 (Naho Sato) and 5 top 20s are signed in.
It is possible to follow the Santa Croce tournament on http://www.tcsantacroce.com/live/. Qualification rounds will start on 12th of May.
[1] Please note I have no economic interest in the industry producing Babbi. It’s just one of my many food passions I want to share with my readers.
[2] Please don’t take me too seriously.
