by Mauro Cappiello
With the start of the Championships at Wimbledon only 10 days away, Tennis Magazine came up with a graphic video ranking of the top ten grasscourt players in the Open Era.
Rankings in tennis are always tricky, especially if they compare players from different ages. The case of grass is even more tricky, if we take into account the changes this surface has gone through in the last 15 years.
But even considering these two factors, and accepting the inevitable subjectivity of any ranking, the verdict from the authoritative French magazine seemed too funny to be true.
The Adidas Y3 collection, that the German sportswear house issued for the 2016 edition of the Roland Garros, generated some social irony for the unusual striped tissue that was used indistinctly for men and women playing at the French Open.
If some users appreciated the originality of the pattern, many others highlighted how eye-bothering the black and white crossing bands can be when watched on tv and, more generally, criticized the brand for an idea of sports fashion that is more and more distant from the iconic outfits of the past.
Right looking at the past, we had some fun trying to imagine what Stefan Edberg would have looked like in the outfit worn by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych and Dominic Thiem, among others, on the clay of the Philippe Chatrier Centre Court.
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from Il Venerdì
by Angelo Carotenuto
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello
Between the '70s and '90s, a country of eight million inhabitants ruled the tennis world with Borg, Wilander and Edberg. But after them the downfall. Why? With a guide book, we went to have a look.
STOCKHOLM. Thomas ran to the net on the opponent's drop shot, opened his forehand, leaned the ball to the left of the Russian Safin, and then looked up to see where the lob was going to die. Besides the line. He had won. He didn't kneel, didn't throw his racquet, didn't kiss the Melbourne rebound ace. He simply clutched his fists and smiled, a normal gesture. "I didn't have the feeling it was something historic."
In January 2002, Sweden was winning its final Slam and did not know it. In the land we've been associating with tennis since the '70s, there are no more champions. Gone in 14 years. Not only one who is capable of winning the Roland Garros is missing, but no title in any other tournament, never a final over the last five years, not one semifinal, or a player among the world top 100. There are only two in the top 400. Like a Brazil without football.
Thomas Johansson - that Thomas - today is 41 years old and is the Stockholm tournament director. His name is in the staff of the Peak Tennis Academy, in Östermalm, residential area of the city, apartments for diplomats and bankers, 75 thousand crowns (eight thousand euros) per square meter. Here, they offer five day packages for 5,300 euros to amateurs who want to try the thrill of training in the same conditions as professionals.
 The front cover of the Italian version of "När vi var bäst" by Mauro Cappiello
"När vi var bäst", the book on the Golden Age of Swedish tennis written two years ago by Mats Holm and Ulf Roosvald, is out in bookshops in Italy today!
As we had anticipated in early January, Italy becomes the first nation to translate the work, that collects stories and behind the scenes from the 30 years in which Sweden ruled the world of tennis.
The Italian version, named "Game Set Match - Borg, Edberg, Wilander e la Svezia del grande tennis" (translation by Alessandra Scali), has been presented two days ago by the Italian independent publishing house Add Editore and sports journalist Piero Valesio (Tuttosport) during an event in Turin.
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