Tennis lives in the passionate veins of Riccardo Rosolin, a world-renowned Italian tennis coach who is currently taking future Italian women’s tennis players to greater heights.
Rosolin, who spent numerous years at the Sanchez-Casal Academy has an impressive CV. He coached former world number 4 tennis star, Ana Ivanovic, Daniela Hantuchova and Maria Sakkari to numerous titles on the WTA tennis circuit.
Now Rosolin is investing in the top youth players at the Italian Tennis Federation where he is responsible for the junior women in the high-performance programme together with Sebastian Vasquez. Under Rosolin’s guidance, a future star in the form of Matilde Mariani was unearthed at the Riaan Venter Tennis Academy ITF 2 junior tennis tournament this weekend, Mariani won the ladies singles title and his other player, Matilde Paoletti went to the semi-final – a testament to his coaching skills and philosophy.
‘My philosophy on coaching starts with the Spanish method that is based on footwork, balance and pushing with the legs. It’s about getting in the best position and using your hands for rotation and power,’ he explained.
‘My main goal at this moment is to develop the young women players at the Italian Tennis Federation,’ he stated.
Rosolin is no stranger to Potch, having first arrived here back in 2011, after meeting Riaan Venter. He started a tennis project at Riaan Venter Tennis Academy and across other tennis centres in SA a couple of years ago. It focused on instilling the Spanish method into local junior tennis but, unfortunately, that project came to a standstill.
‘For some or other reason it did not work out at the time and opinion on the project was divided,’ he said.
‘I still really enjoy coming to South Africa and especially here to the Riaan Venter Tennis Academy in Potch. Riaan is a friend of mine and he has also helped me a lot on my visits here. The facilities are fantastic and there are a lot of courts to practise on and a lot of good sparring partners to practise with.
The weather is also a real bonus for the players. Even if the trip is long, I would recommend this tournament to the European junior tennis players,’ he concluded.
