On Sunday, a couple of minutes after Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner stepped on the courtroom towards Alex de Minaur within the last of the ATP 500 occasion in Rotterdam, one other Italian man laid flat on his again in Bengaluru. Nearly 7,700km away from the Dutch metropolis the place World No. 4 Sinner was within the limelight, Stefano Napolitano – a compatriot ranked 200 locations beneath him, had simply gained his second ever title on the Challenger Tour.
In contrast to Sinner, Napolitano just isn’t a younger and rising participant from the European nation. He’s 28 years outdated and never even amongst the High 10 Italian males within the ATP Rankings. Nonetheless, his celebration, after defeating Korea’s Seongchan Hong 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on the KSLTA courts, supplied solely a touch of reduction one experiences after an prolonged interval of wrestle.
At 6’5”, with a robust physique and a power-packed recreation, Napolitano was on the cusp of breaking into the High 150 in 2017. A spate of accidents and a dip in kind from that time together with the rise of the likes of Matteo Berrettini, Lorenzo Sonego, Lorenzo Musetti and Sinner meant that he stored slipping additional away from the nationwide highlight whereas shedding treasured time. “I had some tough three-four years. I had an elbow operation, then broke my knee. Then, I had a double hernia operation. So, it’s been a reasonably robust stretch,” Napolitano had advised Sportstar after his second-round win at Chennai Open this yr.
Tennis child
Napolitano grew up in a tennis household in Biella, a metropolis within the northern Italian area of Piedmont. His father Cosimo, mom Cristina; and sister Nicole are all tennis coaches.
“It’s many individuals’s desires into one. It might get intense typically but it surely’s a very good a part of it. Having my household round and supporting my dream is one thing necessary for me, so I take it as a giant assist and never one thing that places stress on me,” stated Napolitano.
His father was additionally the match director of the Challenger occasion held in Biella for greater than 20 years. “I was a ballkid on the Challenger stage. I’ve seen Juan Martin del Potro when he was very younger. I noticed many different excellent gamers taking part in in my hometown,” stated Napolitano, who made his main-draw debut on the Challenger circuit as a wildcard in Biella in 2010.
Going by way of the grind twice
Napolitano, a former Junior World No. 9, needed to be affected person as he moved on to the senior stage fully in 2013. He didn’t have any main ITF or Challenger success for the following two years.
He started the 2016 season exterior the High 400 however with a bit extra consistency and a maiden Challenger title in Ortisei, he completed it at 172. Issues received even higher in 2017 when he made it to the principle draw at Roland Garros as a qualifier and defeated the then World No. 31 Mischa Zverev within the first spherical to realize a career-high rating of 152.
Nonetheless, an elbow harm in 2020 slowed down his progress and compelled him to finally undergo the grind once more, proper from the ITFs when final season started.
“At the start, you examine your self to your outdated model but it surely’s only a totally different actuality. It’s only a totally different factor and you need to evolve,” stated Napolitano.
That is the place Italy’s tennis ecosystem helped him get issues again on monitor. Together with the Rome Masters the place he made it to the principle draw after receiving a qualifying wild card whereas being ranked 555, he additionally collected a big quantity of factors from the ten Challengers and 5 ITFs he performed at dwelling final yr.
“The (Italian Tennis) Federation is doing an excellent job – serving to the younger guys and giving us the possibility to play many tournaments in Italy. I feel that’s the system. We’ve tournaments, we hold taking part in, we hold making an attempt,” stated the 28-year-old.
On Monday, Napolitano will likely be at 160 within the ATP Rankings, the closest he has been to his career-high within the final seven years. A deep run on this week’s Pune Challenger can take him even previous that.