NEW YORK—Italians are famous for their sense of style and dramatic flair, and lately Italy’s female players have found a way to bring those qualities to bear on the tennis court, transforming them from merely “interesting” players into highly successful ones.
The first in this recent wave were Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone; the latter won a Grand Slam title (2010 French Open) and together with Pennetta anchored the Italian team that emerged as an unlikely Fed Cup power, winning three of the last six international tournaments.
But just as Schiavone and Pennetta seemed to be fading on the form chart (Schiavone, at age 32, is down to No. 26; Pennetta, who’s 30, is No. 18), Sara Errani and Roberta Vinici have stepped up to take over the load. In a remarkable double yesterday at the National Tennis Center, the best friends and doubles partners upset high seeds to advance to the quarterfinals, where they will play each other.
Errani carved up sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, and Vinci bushwhacked No. 2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in what is sure to be remembered as one of the greatest—and most remarkable—days in the history of Italian tennis.
What’s more, Errani, the recent French Open runner-up and No. 10 seed here at the U.S. Open, and Vinci performed their feats with classic Mediterranean élan, each of them artistically but cleverly neutralizing the game of her opponent by relying on a vibrant palette of effective but not always complimentary shots—heavy topspin drives backed up by feathery drop shots; wicked sliding and curving slices setting the stage for crisp, rifle-shot volleys. Together, they made a good case for the argument that variety and skill can still trump the power of a Kerber, or the consistency and deadly aim of a Radwanska.
Italians are famous for talking with their hands. Boy, did these two, ever, on a sultry, humid day in Flushing Meadows.
Kerber on Errani: “Yeah, for sure it's not easy to play against opponent like this that mix the game. I knew this before the match. I know that she will play a lot of spin and also some dropshots, but. . . Yeah, I tried to be aggressive. She was better today. What can I say?”
Radwanska on Vinci: “She really mixes it up, a lot of slice, then suddenly hitting very well from the forehand side, then kick serve, dropshots, volleys as well, coming to the net. It's really tough because she really had an answer for everything today.”
Both players were inspired by the success of Schiavone and Pennetta, as well as their team success in Fed Cup. “For sure when Schiavone won Roland Garros and Flavia goes to Top 10, also Sara final in Roland Garros, me, I try, yeah, to come like the other ones.”
She went on, “I have a difficult style of tennis, for sure, different style. I mix a lot of balls. I go to the net. I play a lot of slice. So it's different. So probably she (Radwanska) doesn't like my slice. Also when I go to the net, probably her passing shot is not so good. That's why I won today probably. This is the key.”
Imagine, a WTA player challenging a rival to hit pin-point passing shots instead of allowing her to merely whale away at the ball, aiming it vaguely to either the forehand or backhand territories in the backcourt!
Errani, the baby of the Italian group at 25, relied on the same rock-solid mental and tactical game that earned her a place in the French Open final a few months ago. Although she’s built on a modest 5’4” platform and barely weighs over 130 pounds, she’s indefatigable and as locked on the ball during the rally as a golden retriever (although cocker spaniel might be a more apt physical description).
But Errani, presently the highest ranked Italian woman at No. 10, is not just an energetic retriever; she also plays with a surprising—and pleasing—degree of variety and knows how to use the full court. As she said of her chess game with Kerber:
“It was an incredible fight, I think. It was very difficult match mentally and also physically. First set was one hour and 15 [minutes], I think. So it was also very tactic(al) match. Trying to wait the other, try to do the better thing for me, the worst for her. It was strange game sometimes.”
Well, if that was “strange,” I’ll take it any day. There’s been a dearth of tactical, multi-faceted tennis on offer by the WTA lately, so the success of Errani and Vinci sweeps across the game like a fresh breeze off the Adriatic sea.
The only down side I see is that these best of friends and doubles partners (they were in two Grand Slam finals this year, winning at Roland Garros, and are seeded No. 2 here) now must play each other. But however that turns out, you can already say Veni, Vidi, Vici—they came, they saw and they conquered.
Peter Bodo and Nick Bollettieri preview some of the men's quarterfinals and the Errani-Vinci match: