San Marino Open 2023 with Fabio Fognini and David Goffin
San Marino Open 2023 with Fabio Fognini and David Goffin
Two former world-renowned top 10 players like Fabio Fognini and David Goffin, many clay court specialists and a patrol of Italians motivated as never before to emerge. This is the calling card of the San Marino Open Tennis Internationals 2023, from this year upgraded to the ATP 125 Challenger category (prize money € 145,000) scheduled from Sunday, July 30 (with qualifying) to Sunday, August 6 on the courts of the Cassa di Risparmio di Montecchio Tennis Center. It was in this cozy setting that the 30th edition of the tournament, one of the highlights of the summer, was officially presented at a press conference.
Delving into the technical aspects was Mahena Abbati, this year’s tournament director. “First of all, I feel obliged to thank the Federation for trusting me in this important role, where I pick up the heavy legacy of Alessandro Costa – her words -. And a due thank you goes to the colleagues who have worked hard to make a whole series of improvements, which will then remain at the structure even after the tournament. As far as the players are concerned, it is clear that two former top 10 players like Fabio Fognini, the only Italian to win a Masters 1000, in Monte-Carlo, arriving at 9th place in the world rankings, just returned to the tour after the injury suffered at Roland Garros and recipient of the first wild card, and the Belgian David Goffin, former world no. 7 and finalist at the ATP Finals, beating icons of the sport such as Federer and Nadal, need no introduction. Both of them by the way will be making their absolute debut on the Titan.”
“In the entry list there are 11 players among the top 200 in the ranking, at the top is Frenchman Alexandre Muller, who is having his best season and is currently at No. 81 of the ranking after coming in last week at No. 76, his personal best,” Abbati added. Behind him other specialists of the red such as the Spaniard Jaume Munar, who yesterday in Umag defeated compatriot Ramos-Vinolas, finalist Sunday in Gstaad, or the experienced Argentine Federico Delbonis, and then the tricolor patrol, with Francesco Passaro, finalist Sunday at the Challenger of Trieste, Franco Agamenone, mid-month winner of the title in Braunschwerig, Federico Gaio, Edoardo Lavagno, Alessandro Giannessi, Andrea Pellegrino and Gianluca Mager. And Italian is also the second wild card for the main draw, which we awarded to Flavio Cobolli, one of the emerging Next Gen. For the third available invitation we have a shortlist of names but we are waiting for the moment to announce the recipient. For the qualifiers the first wild cards go to San Marino davisman Marco De Rossi and Rimini’s Marco Mazza. On this occasion I would like to mention that for players, coaches, escorts, referees and line judges we employ more than 100 rooms in hotels in San Marino, plus there is the local staff that takes care of transportation services, control, accreditation and everything else, in essence a microcosm that works all day long for the success of the event. New features this year include ledwalls with real-time updates, one of which is in the renovated Hospitality Village.”
