WIMBLEDON – When Camila Giorgi reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon at 20 years of age in 2012, many predicted that she could certainly become at least a top 20 player. In 2013, the Italian reached the round of 16 at the US Open, giving the impression that the previous year’s prediction was about to become reality.
Since then, Camila inexplicably failed to reach the second week at a major in 18 attempts, losing for four times in the round of 32. A month ago at Roland Garros, Camila served twice for the match against Sloane Stephens, who ended up reaching the final.
Giorgi’s best ranking is only No. 30 in the world, which shows how the talented Italian hasn’t lived up to her potential yet. The reasons are multiple: A difficult life spent travelling around Argentina, Italy and the United States with very little money and unreliable sponsors, a few lawsuits with her creditors, a family tragedy caused by her sister’s death and finally an eccentric father who is also her coach. A few tennis experts think that Camila would achieve better results if she had a more experienced coach. But how can we be 100% sure that it would work in her case? Perhaps Camila truly needs her father to be also her coach in order to perform at her best. In the history of women’s tennis, we have seen multiple fathers who helped their daughters achieve the greatest results, despite the fact that they could barely hold a tennis racquet. Graf, Seles, Capriati, Pierce, Wozniacki and the Williams’ sisters all owe their tennis careers to their fathers, who proved to be much more effective and resourceful than professional coaches.
Mr. Giorgi’s bizarre personality dragged his family in multiple battles with several predominant figures in Italian tennis, including Italy’s long-time Fed Cup captain Corrado Barazzutti, Sergio Palmieri, Francesca Schiavone and the Italian Federation in general. The issues have recently been solved with a convenient compromise from all parties involved. Despite the 3 million dollars that Camila has earned in her career so far, a good relationship with the Italian Federation is very lucrative for the entire Giorgi family and their future generations. At the same time, the Italian Tennis Federation desperately needs Camila after the retirement of Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci and the inevitable decline of Francesca Schiavone and Sara Errani.
While Italian men’s tennis is on the upswing with nine players in the Wimbledon main draw this year, the ladies only have one contestant: Camila Giorgi. It is not surprising that the Italian Tennis Federation is looking at Camila as their only anchor on the women’s tour.
Despite her inconsistent results, Camila finished the 2014 season ranked No. 35 and 2015 at No. 34. She also defeated 8 top ten players, showing that she can compete with the best in the world when she is in the right frame of mind.
Giorgi’s tennis is very enjoyable to watch, but it is also very risky, which usually ends up costing her a few matches that she should win. At the end of the day, the match is often on her racquet.
In her round of 32 encounter against Siniakova, Giorgi was strangely passive in the first set, which she lost 6-3. She also had to save a match point at 5-4 for the Czech in the second set, before prevailing in the third. Giorgi was able to turn the match around as soon as she started to play her fearlessly aggressive tennis.
In her post-match press conference, Camila didn’t show any interest in analyzing her next opponent – Ekaterina Makarova, an experienced lefty who plays extremely well on grass. “I only focus on my game, I don’t care about who is on the other side of the net. It doesn’t matter if I play a lefty or a righty,” Giorgi candidly admitted.
The truth is that the Italian is now tactically more alert compared to the days when her tennis was exclusively hit or miss. Somebody asked her if she is now a different player compared to when she first burst onto the scene six years ago, and she said: “I am definitely more mature now, I have more matches under my belt and more experience. I was a little girl at the time. I play much better now and I am much stronger.”
Grass is Giorgi’s favorite surface while eight of the top ten seeds have already been eliminated, which might lead a few to believe that the Italian could have a shot at winning the Wimbledon title this year. In reality, world No. 1 Simona Halep is still the favorite in the top section of the draw, while the bottom half is now in the hands of none other than Serena Williams and former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova. The Italian still has a long way to go before she could be considered a Grand Slam champion.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
