When the Tournament ends it is so sad: the club gets empty and everything goes back to normal. The atmosphere of the finals is already gloomy, as one sees only few players around; this year, though, on Sunday there were more players than usual, as the girl’s doubles final has been delayed due to bad weather on last Monday (it was scheduled to be played yesterday).
Anyhow, the girls’ final was played between Eleonora Molinaro, who has beaten in the semis Italian Cocciaretto, and Yuki Naito, who won against the girl I thought to be the favourite, i.e. Clara Tauson. The final was not a huge level match, but it was tactically very interesting, thanks to Yuki Naito. My impression was that the girl (and her coach) knew that it was pointless to play against Molinaro purely offensive tennis, as the Luxemburgish owns a bigger frame and is more powerful and solid from the baseline. What Naito did was to try cut Molinaro’s rhythm, by often hitting high balls with a lot of spin. Molinaro found troubles handling such balls: sometimes she hit long especially with her forehand, as she kept her weight backwards at impact (a problem of hers I highlighted in my last article); some other times, she too was forced to play high balls to counter the opponent’s; against such high balls Naito was very good in hitting with great anticipation and to attack Molinaro. The Luxemburgish performed much more solidly than yesterday, but she was forced by Naito to play a game which is not her own and she played all the first set chasing for her opponent. Naito took a 4-2 lead, Molinaro equalized on 4-4 but, soon after, was broken again and the little Japanese secured the first set by 6-4. The match was not spectacular and Naito’s game was not appreciated by the public; in my view, though, she did what she had to, to compete against the opponent she had to face: she was using her brain while playing.
The match continued as such also in the first part of the second set. Again, Naito was able to take a break lead, but Molinaro equalized. Though, on 4-4, maybe also due to tension, Naito’s game collapsed a bit: her high balls became shorter and she started to face a bit more difficulties in finding winning solutions: whilst in the first set she relied on great anticipations and angles, in the second part of the second set both of these started to vanish. Moreover, Molinaro demonstrated solidity: she was now more patient, as she was waiting for the right ball to increase pace, avoiding allowing Naito’s “dirty” tennis to lead her to hit too many unforced. Eleonora was able to break her opponent and take a 5-4 lead, and then she held her serve.
The third set went on the lines of the second part of the second one, but things became much worse for the Japanese. Naito continued to rely on high balls, but at this stage her shots were all landing on the service line and, of course, they weren’t annoying anymore for Molinaro; further, she was always defensive, as Molinaro was intelligent by not taking any risks and just making her opponent run from one side to the other of the court, until it was Naito who missed her shot. Molinaro took a 4-0 lead; the following game was a very long one in which Naito tried to play more offensively and gained some break points, but eventually she couldn’t convert any. The final game was just a formality, and Eleonora Molinaro won the third set by 6-0, becoming the new Italian Open champion.
I think that Naito’s strategy was the correct one, but she could have been successful only if she had managed to maintain depth during the whole match. Little by little, the depth in her shots disappeared and she remained harmless against the more powerful opponent. On the other side, Molinaro deserved this title: she has been dominating this first part of the season, winning or being a finalist in whatever tournament she played (both on the junior and on the pro tour). With this title, she formally established herself as the best player within those currently competing on the junior tour (actually, I think that Tauson is more talented, but she is still not always able to fill the two-year gap in terms of consistency of performances).
As promised, I tried to watch also the boys’ final, but it was a bit dramatic for me. I re-entered the central court when Baez and Andreev were on 3-3; then Andreev immediately broke. Baez consistently played three meters behind the baseline and he was way too faulty and short in his shots. Andreev, instead, was more aggressive and from time to time he hit nice accelerations. I was surprised by Baez’ poor performance during the games I saw; everybody I spoke to, told me that the Argentinian materially underperformed compared to the previous days, as he might have run out of energy. Andreev won the first set and took an early break in the second. On 3-1 or 4-1 in favour of the Bulgarian I left as the match wasn’t interesting to me. Honestly speaking, I know too little of boys’ tennis to seriously comment on this match and I won’t spend any more time on it. I gave it a try and I failed: or I find a new Tsitsipas (or, even better, a new Edberg) or I just do not enjoy watching males’ tennis.
Finally, I saw also the final of the girls’ doubles event, which scheduled Naito/Sato vs. McNally/Kung. The Japanese team won in two sets. I won’t comment the match as it was not particularly significant, but you can’t imagine the pleasure of seeing the Japanese girls laughing and having real fun one with the other during the whole match, even during the most delicate phases: in particular, Naho Sato has a constant smile on her face. The two girls are so fun to watch that they washed away a bit of the post-Bonfiglio bad mood.
Next year it will be the 60th year of the Tournament; I am screening new ideas to make something a bit special: let’s hope I can manage to realize them.
For now, my compliments to “Elè Moli’”, as Molinaro nicknames herself. I don’t know if I write a “wrap up” article this year, since there were many reports during this week and I basically said all I had to; If I find no ideas to write a further piece, see you for the Roland Garros.
Cheers now by a tired, heated and a bit melancholic Tommy Hemp.
