In Florence dances the “Wolf”. Or rather “Wolfie”, nickname of Jeffrey John Wolf. Inspired by Andre Agassi, without the mullet anymore, the 23-year-old JJ reached his first career ATP final at Unicredit Firenze Open. Thanks to this result, he is sure to enter the top 60 in the world for the first time. A big leap forward for the American who turned pro in 2017, who only made his Top 100 debut this summer and celebrated his first ATP quarter-final in Washington in the first week with the new status.
Wolf grew up in a sports family, whose memory is still very strong in Cincinnati, where he was born. As many as 26 of his relatives have practiced some discipline at a competitive level, in college or as professionals. His grandfather Charley, who had the most success before JJ in the family, played baseball for the Cincinnati Reds, then coached in the NBA, the US basketball league, the Detroit Pistons and the Cincinnati Royals. Not all of his family followed in his footsteps: there are those who preferred volleyball, some football, some boxing, some athletics. Wolf, after trying baseball, soccer and basketball, found his way into tennis.
But his previous experiences, he told for the ATP site in 2020, helped develop his game. “Football helped me develop speed and footwork, basketball was important for lateral movements and jumps, baseball for arm rotation, especially serving, and hip rotation – he explained -. Certainly this facilitated my transition between professionals ”.
In fact, Wolf, as a child, for years did not play tennis at all or at most practiced it as a recreational activity on a family vacation. Nobody put pressure on him to start a career in tennis, but tennis has had a growing fascination with young JJ. “I like it because it all depends on what I can control. Every point depends on you, it’s like in boxing: it’s you against the opponent and you just have to be better than him on that day ”.
JJWolf: “That meeting with Federer meant a lot”
Passion and dedication led him to forge his body through hours and hours of work in the gym during the 2020 lockdown. Without ever forgetting Roger Federer’s decisive advice.
Wolf had the opportunity to train with the Swiss in 2018, on the eve of the Western & Southern Open, the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, in which he played the qualifiers. “I was very nervous, I would have trained with one of my idols – he said at the time-. We played for an hour, then we stopped to talk for 30-40 minutes. He gave me little tips on everyone but it meant a lot to me. It was a normal conversation with an extraordinary person ”.
That half hour changed the horizons of the young Wolf. “Federer is a normal person who has achieved extraordinary things,” said JJ. That meeting made me want to work even harder, it made me realize that I wanted to try to become someone with that kind of influence ”.
