Top weather, new fields, slam crowd. In short, the ideal conditions for discovering pickleball, the new discipline that is proposed toAdriano Panatta Racquet Club of Treviso. And then there were them, the champions: hundreds of Trevisos came together.
The new mini tennis
Pickleball is quite new in Italy: just think that the first courts were built in 2017 in Tocco da Casauria, in the province of Pescara. But has existed since 1965when Joel Pritchard, a US congressman, invented it together with friends Bill Bell and Barney McCallum on Bainbridge Island, Washington state.
Panatta-Bertolucci, interview (semi-serious) before the challenge with Pennetta-Schiavone in Treviso
The origin of the name is curious to say the least: in rowing, “pickle boat” indicates a rowing team that was discarded from the main competition. Pritchard’s wife chose that name because pickleball was created from scraps from other sports.
And indeed, pickleball is a mix di tennis, badminton e ping pong, with a splash of padel. It is played first of all on a small field (13.41 x 6.10 metres, ndr), with a net of a maximum height of 91.44 cm at the ends and an area of 2.13 meters close to the net (the “kitchen” or kitchen) where the ball cannot be hit on the fly. The rackets, with a shape that resembles that of a chopping board, are light and without holes, unlike the ball, which is perforated and hollow to reduce wind friction and resembles the one used to put detergent in the washing machine. You hit diagonally, first bouncing the ball on the ground (like in padel) and there are no fouls. To score a point, you need to be in possession of the serve and there is a ball change like in volleyball of the past. The first player to reach 11 points wins, in case of a tie you can decide to go for the advantages or use the infamous “killer point”.
The challenge begins
The tournament at the Racquet Club
The open tournament, reserved for even mixed teams, saw the participation of 16 couples also coming from outside the region (there were a duo from Rome and one from Trento, ndr). After an initial elimination round, the tournament was divided into Silver and Gold brackets. In the Silver draw, the pair formed by Malika Lanzarotto and Massimo Galetti won, while in the Gold, at the end of an immaculate journey, Marcarini-Paolillo from Brescia triumphed over Bortolami-Zanatta from Padua.
Adriano Panatta with some of the winners of the first tournament
The lightning-fast duo
The show, as was natural, was mainly during the performance of the historic doubles pair formed by Adriano Panatta and Paolo Bertolucci, wearing a red shirt like in Chile. On the other side of the net, two always smiling players: Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone. The journalist will act as host and moderator Stefano Meloccarowho presented the performance as a sort of re-edition of the “Battle of the Sexes” (fortunately the purpose of the match was much lighter than the duel between Billie Jean King and Bobbie Riggs in 1973, ndr).
And it was an authentic show from the host, Adriano Panatta, who, right from the warm-up, delighted the audience with a series of brilliant jokes (all microphoned): «I’m out of breath. Or let’s start…”. After the very first exchanges, given the excellent performances of the duo Pennetta-Schiavone, Panatta then turned towards Bertolucci, urging him to concentrate more: «You haven’t understood anything: we have to win. Because otherwise, what kind of impression would we make if we lost ourselves with two girls. Two champions for goodness sake, but in short…”
On the other hand, Pennetta and Schiavone tried to affectionately tease their opponents by joking about their age: “Take it easy, they’re old!”. There was also a referee who tried in vain to enforce the rules, but he did little with Panatta’s joking stance: “I’m the owner of the house and I make the rules.” And the score also took on strange proportions.
But the score?
For the record, two sets were played: the first was won by Panatta and Bertolucci at killer point (11-10). Same score, but in reversed pairs, in the second. It was a real spectacle, with Bertolucci’s baseline solidity, Schiavone’s no-look forehands, Pennetta’s all-court solidity and Panatta’s deadly volleys (some even behind the back).
A round racket can also be used
The top joke is from Panatta: straight into Paolo’s net, Adriano looks at the crowd: «It’s my fault for still playing together», 47 years after Davis… At 1-1 someone’s breath (.. .) was starting to run low, and at that point Panatta Solomonically decreed the end of the match: «I think it’s right to end a set equal». Curtain. And who wants to play? Panatta did four camps in his club, “but maybe I’ll do more.”
2023-10-16 16:53:12
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