Elena Pero: Paolo Bertolucci’s heartfelt tribute

Sky commentator Paolo Bertolucci paid tribute to his colleague Elena Pero, who passed away at the age of 60. In a post on X, the former Italian tennis player shared a photo of himself with Pero and Ivan Ljiubicic taken on the day of the Wimbledon final between Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev.

“July 12 was our last final. Goodbye, Elena,” wrote Bertolucci, who for years partnered with the journalist, a popular voice for tennis on Sky. Elena Pero was remembered and honored on social media by thousands of fans—both longtime supporters and those who have become interested in tennis in recent years thanks to Jannik Sinner and the golden age of Italian tennis. “It’s impossible to accept such a sudden farewell; I will always carry her in my heart,” he later said in a heartfelt video posted by Sky.

Here is Sky’s statement: “Elena has been the face of this outlet, Sky Sport, for more than thirty-five years, ever since it was called Telepiù, where she joined right from its founding as a trainee journalist in 1991, hired by Rino Tommasi, her great mentor, from whom she—as the only one capable of doing so—inherited the heaviest legacy. Her voice is, and always will be, a symbol of pure beauty. Like the sound of a ball struck by Roger Federer, like a volley by Martina Navratilova.”

“It would take the essence of her storytelling—so rich, precise, warm, and intense, yet without yielding to rhetoric or excess, and without wasting a single adjective—to list all the achievements and qualities of this extraordinary professional. We hope that this woman journalist—so far removed from the model so often cheapened today, especially on social media, and for this reason so relevant and exemplary—will serve as a role model for future generations of young people, especially young women.”