Italy Just won Davis Cup. Even without Yannick Siner and Lorenzo MusettiNo less than two top ten, the team he leads Filippo Volandri I confirmed what has become established in recent years: The strength and dominance of tennis in that country is remarkable. Reference should only be made to the specimens given here: in addition to the three successive Davis specimens obtained, She is a two-time Grand Slam and Masters champion And the winner of three other titles in the season, one of the top ten, Two Olympic medals in Paris 2024, Two-time Billie Jean King Cup championEight of the top 100 are among men – seven of them under 30 – and even a top 10 in juniors.
There are a lot of people behind this huge success. There is a lot of work done. But there is one person who is the base of the pyramid. This guy is Angelo Benaggi His connection to Argentina and Argentine tennis cannot be denied.
Benaghi is an industrial engineer Who since 2001 has not only been president of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, the entity whose headquarters are located in the majestic Foro Italico, where the ATP 1000 and WTA 1000 tournaments are held in Rome, which are among the most important clay tournaments for both circuits. Binagi, who in 1982 reached 16th place in the Italian rankings and was not more than a very good player but only at the national level, in 1994 began his managerial career at his club Cagliari and today there is no one in Italy who does not recognize his dedication and effort for the benefit of tennis in his country. He is 100% strategic and has a broad vision for the future, and has even managed to create a free-to-air TV channel dedicated exclusively to this sport.
today The idea of Binaji and his team is that everyone is pushing in the same direction. Although at the beginning of his administration he appointed suitable foreigners to different regions of his federation, all key positions are currently held by Italians. They are the ones who feel a sense of belonging to their country. For this reason, Sinner trained for a long time with the person who coached him, Riccardo Piatti, and today he continues with Simone Vagnozzi, whom he also knew when he was very young; Musetti and Matteo Arnaldi work with Simone Tartarini and Alessandro Petrone respectively. Even Matteo Berrettini, the former Wimbledon finalist, spent a lot of time with Vincenzo Santopader and today Umberto Rianna appears on the bench. Yes: For Italian tennis players, there is nothing like Italian coaches.
But the story of Benaghi and the explosion of tennis in his country began a long time ago when the Sardinian (born in Cagliari 65 years ago) came up with the idea of naturalizing foreign players to represent Italy. That’s when he set his sights on Argentina and Argentine boys with certain potential who had an Italian passport or who had the potential to obtain one. Then call Franco Squillarithe left-handed player who in 2000 reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros and reached the threshold of the top ten. He invited him to Rio de Janeiro and they met there. “I realized right away that he was a man with a very strong character, a great personality, willing to do whatever he had to do to get what he wanted; he was always one step ahead.”Squillari recalls.
However, Benaghi’s plan had another leg: Create many tournaments at a very low cost On the courts of a stunning hotel in Santa Margherita di Pula, south of Sardinia and facing the sea, in an act also undertaken by the Turkish Tennis Club of Antalya, which had been attempted a few years earlier on the Argentine coast, but it all ended in resounding economic and sporting failure. Instead, Benaghi ended up giving the Italian players and Argentine-Italian players – to whom he assured wild cards – about 30 weeks per year of competition to improve the rankings. And they did.
The next step was taken by Benaghi when he ended up hiring Squillari and Edoardo Infantino to coach the best young Italian players in Buenos Aires.in the Argentine summer. Together the two put together a sort of month-long pre-season until the plan started to become more ambitious. To the point that Infantino ended up working with the Italians for 12 years and was in charge of the Olympic preparation center in Tirreniain the Province of Pisa, is a 43-hectare complex managed by the Italian National Olympic Committee that has been the core of the resurgence of tennis in that country. Tirenia, along with Formia, served as the base of operations from which the other 19 regional centers were supervised and the place to which players – of all categories – had to return for training and various tests (technical, physical and medical).
“Musetti, Sener, Berrettini… they all came to the National Center from different parts of the country. The federation technically controls the calendars, the physical preparation, the type of work they do. The private trainers, for example Piatti, who was Sener, gave us the programming and we continued to work together.”Infantino explained at one point.
“Benagi must have come to Buenos Aires about three times to see how we were doing. He was the driving force behind the change in Italian tennis. He started with the old futures tournaments, continued with the challengers and ended up with more ATP and WTA tournaments all over the country. He made Rome the most important Masters 1000 tournament and, for me, the fifth tournament in the world after the Grand Slams. He equaled the United States and France in the number of professional tournaments. He saw Bet and Win”says Squillari, who also recognizes the full competition calendar that runs from January to December.
“When you earn a lot, you have to work harder.”is an adage that Binaghi repeats. “The majority, as often happens in Italy, tries to destroy us and looks for problems for us but we have broad shoulders, we are solid and stubborn. We move forward without looking back and without observing those who want us to harm.”complete who has a goal for the coming years. “We want to excel in football at the audience level.”He shot back with a sullen, convinced face. Will Italian tennis be able to surpass the four-time world champion and owner of one of the strongest economic leagues on the planet? No one dared to oppose him at the moment.
On one of Benaghi’s first visits to our country, he went to FC Ciudad, where the brothers Francisco and Juan Manuel Cerendolo trained in their father Alejandro’s academy. He saw them and was happy. With them and the training method. From there he took the information as well as the “manpower” which he replicated in Italy. It maintains the working groups that remain unchanged. Because what works is untouched. Or at most, details can be added to improve it. This is what Italy did. It’s not bad for him.