Tennis and family, Fabio Fognini: “This is me”

Beyond the limits, to try to break the mold, despite everything and everyone, blow by blow. In the field, as in life. Fabio Fognini, “Sewer (for all) is back”. The great Italian tennis champion has finally returned, after the operation which took place last May, the surgery on both ankles, debuting at the tournament in Antalya, in Turkey, where he lost in the round of 16, and is now close to the Australian Open, first Slam of the season, scheduled from 9 to 21 February.

A true champion, Fognini, perhaps too misunderstood, genius and recklessness, who however continues to give a show, bringing out a unique talent, taken to the extreme each time, at the end of real battles, perhaps to conquer lands (made of concrete or red) prestigious, nine, such as a Montecarlo, in 2019, or arriving, in June, among the best ten players in the world (today he is number 17 in the ranking), something that hasn’t happened for more than 40 years.

A docufilm also comes to tell the character Fabio – Take it or leave it, produced by DAO, airing from January 31 on TimVision, directed by Giuseppe Marzo, a real liberating journey, full of experience, within his personal, professional sphere, in which, starting with him, he confides, also through video-selfies, before and after the operation, in the dark days of waiting, of physiotherapy, to recover and (re) get involved.

Alternating memories, memories, private anecdotes, career, family, his life, the occasion thus becomes a reflection on himself, on his strength, his fragility, divided between the notoriety and the loneliness of a sport, between Fabio and Fognini, but above all of a renewed awareness of those who have always been close to him and speak: parents, friends, from Novak Djokovic, Zanetti, to Christian Vieri, the coach, the trainers. Until clearly Flavia Pennetta, wife, friend, confidant, mother of his two children, Federico and Farah, the last born, the first to dribble with him in the resumption of training, “a counselor”, he repeats, able to help him, “making me see things in a different way”.

Let’s start with Flavia.
«I have been very lucky, I repeat, and I repeat it to myself, to find a person like her, with whom to share everything, and who comes from my own sport. He knows how to understand my moods, he always knows how to be near me ».

How does getting naked in front of the camera feel in the end?
«It was difficult, mostly because I had to tell so many pieces of myself, since I was little, to get the coaches to talk, sharing anecdotes that nobody knows. The main goal was to make myself known, as I am, by people who have either always refused and continue to do so, or by others who perhaps knew little.
I hope we can see, understand who I really am ».

The subtitle is clear “Take it or leave it”: is that right?
“I’ve never been ashamed, and I’m not ashamed. Everyone in life makes mistakes, they have dark times, and they have to react to move forward. We are human. I’ve always been part of a very lonely sport, and at the same time selfish, in some moments I hated it, I say it in the documentary, this meant that some sides were seen, let’s say “lacking”, when I made mistakes ” .

How to look in the mirror and do the math.
«Initially I said to myself ‘what do I do?’. Unlike other times, this time I followed the advice.
It was also a job, where I made myself available, together with other well-known sports characters, including Bobo Vieri, Javier Zanetti, Francesca Schiavone, my wife Flavia, I also wanted to ask Valentino (Rossi, ed), under another point of view, but unfortunately it was difficult to trace him. It’s not just me speaking, there are many voices, many faces, who tell, and they know me off the pitch ».

How important was Bobo for example?
“Over the past two or three years, in Miami, we’ve spent and shared a lot of time together. He, and those who appear, have understood me more, everyone has experienced what I have achieved in a different way. Bobo was a very high level sportsman, playing in Inter close to champions like Ronaldo: he knows, he knows ».

How’s it going now?
“I suffered a lot, it was very hard, because Covid brought me to my knees. Everything takes time, I was definitely not ready to achieve results, both physically and tennis, and to highlight myself, I returned to the field to try to experience the emotions, despite the nine months off, the last official match was in March 2020 Now I’m fine, I’ve been training for several weeks now, and obviously I don’t deny that the first two or three months will be the most difficult ones. As always, the goal is to be competitive when the clay season arrives ».

In any case, 2021 will be a year full of events: Grand Slams, Olympics, the ATP Finals in Turin. What are you chasing?
«The considerations I leave to the strong ones. I will go my own way as I always have, and if something comes it means that I will have played well and achieved results. Last year it was strange, so now you have to deserve everything ».

In 2020 Warning was also released. My life between the lines (published by Piedmont) his autobiography book.
“It was pretty tough, I have to be honest, because I wanted to do something, but in my own way, as I liked it.
Here, too, the desire was to show me as I really am, without having to convince anyone. I’m not the type.
Ten years ago they proposed it to me, but then Dad didn’t want it, while now that I am, how to say, closer to the end of my career, than at the beginning, I said to myself “why not”. A beautiful adventure, in which we managed to write a story of mine ».

One of his highest moments as an athlete coincides with his success in Montecarlo. How does it feel to cross a finish line like this?
«Having won such a tournament is one of those immense, unforgettable emotions. In the final I had everything to lose, after beating Nadal in the semifinals, because rarely do you start as favorites in a Master 1000, where in general you come up against characters like Federer, Thiem, Tsitsipas, Rafa himself. It happened to me Lajovic, who came from a series of impressive successes, having beaten Thiem, Medvedev. Raising a cup of that value is what we train for every day and go to work, trying to experience sensations and moments like this ».

And then shortly after entering the top ten, being among the best.
«A goal yes, and I managed to get into it both in the single and in the double (paired with Simone Bolelli, ed).
Of course we can discuss the fact that I could certainly have stayed longer, but in the meantime, however, he arrived and I joined him ».

In the meantime, he has a new coach, Alberto Mancini: how is it going?
«We started working in November, it was right to change, because Corrado (Barazzutti, ed.) Didn’t give me certain things I needed at the time. When I had Covid, we talked, gathered, there I said how much I wanted to have a team alongside who believed in me, and from that moment I trusted him “.

On social media, after Maradona’s death, he posted a photo and a video together. What memory do you have of him?
«I was very upset, I had met him in Argentina, we were writing to each other in private, I had heard him even before his birthday. Losing such an icon is bad, we come from a period in which so many things have happened, the Earth has rebelled. I grew up in a period when my father was a friend of Altobelli, Beccalossi, he was at the ’82 World Cup, he lived there. One day he said to me: “Fabio watch Diego’s videos”. As soon as I could I did it, buying everything, I began to admire it. He gave me an autographed national team t-shirt, it is among the objects, framed, that I keep the most, while he “cheated” me a racket (laughs, ed). Maradona was a dream, as are Pelé, Ronaldo, Michael Jordan, as was Kobe Bryant, unique characters in our world ».

Fognini, Berrettini, Sonego, Sinner, Travaglia, Caruso, Cecchinato. The Italy of men’s tennis has recently become an international power again.
«I have always been the first to say that“ the more the better ”, the only flaw is not being able to do something more in the Davis Cup, despite everything, despite having always put his soul into it. It will be one of the things that I will carry inside. In some cases, perhaps we weren’t ready, so I hope that, between now and when I finish, we will have the opportunity to help, to help us all, to be competitive again ».

Were you surprised by the evolution of Jannik (Sinner, ed)?
“Everyone has their own maturation, but I’m sure that in the next ten years, between him, Lorenzo Musetti, and the other guys, there will be a lot of fun”.

Wishes thinking about the future?
“Health, first of all, is what matters most.”