There is really no better way to end a season by celebrating the tricolor. Matteo Gribaldo, a Tuscan scholarship holder of the Intesa Sanpaolo Protection Little Tennis Champions program, graduated as Italian Under-16 Champion on the courts of the Olympic Preparation Center in Tirrenia. Matteo, class of 2008, has been part of the I Tennis Foundation team since 2023, facilitated by a unique scholarship program that provides tennis training by top coaches and attendance at 12 ITF U18 international tournaments.
Together with the teammates and the I Tennis Foundation team, he has grown steadily in recent years and during 2024 collected three ITF Under 18 titles in doubles (J60 in Pescara, J100 in Palermo, and J30 in Cairo), and reached in singles one final (in Palermo) and two semifinals (J60 in Domzale, defeated by Ivanisevic’s son, and J30 in Cuneo), as well as the final of the Internazionali d’Italia Under 16 (a stage of the Tennis Europe circuit).
“It has been an honor to watch Matteo Gribaldo grow and mature as an athlete,” says the great Spanish coach Emilio Sanchez, a member of the I Tennis Foundation technical committee. ”His victory at the Italian Under 16 Championships is not only a personal achievement, but a symbol of what charitable programs like the Intesa Sanpaolo Protection Little Tennis Champions project can accomplish. Matteo has shown that with the right support and dedication, dreams can come true. I am convinced that this success can be the beginning of a beautiful adventure.”
Credited at the starting ribbons as the eighth seed, Gribaldo (Italian ranking 2.5 and 545 in the ITF ranking), impressed on the hard court of Tirrenia with his solutions and solidity. After defeating 2.7 Fiocchi (7-6/6-1) and 2.6 Trivunac (6-1/6-2), Matteo broke the bank by eliminating with a peremptory 6-2/6-0 the number one of seeding Antonio Marigliano (2.4). Overcoming Giovanni Enrico Boi in the semifinals, also in two sets (6-4/6-3), Gribaldo lost the only set of his tournament in the final. Opposed to No. 3 on the scoreboard Simone Massellani, Matteo won the first set (7-5), slipped through in the second 4-6, but in the third he came back to push and then prevailed with a clear 6-1.
“We are really very happy for Matteo, who has deserved this great week for the attitude he has always approached every match with,” explains Simone Bongiovanni, co-founder of I Tennis Foundation and coordinator of the Intesa Sanpaolo Protezione Little Tennis Champions program. “The work done by his new club, TC Pistoia, combined with the support we have provided him over the past two years through our staff and supervisors Emilio Sanchez, Ivan Ljubicic, Gipo Arbino and Stefano Massari, I believe is making Matteo grow the best he can. But equally important is the involvement of a very special family, always attentive to accompany his path in tennis in the right way.”
The rest of the I Tennis Foundation team had two eighth-round finals in singles (Mattia Cappellari and Mattia Pagano) and a semifinal in the doubles main draw again with Gribaldo paired with Mattia Bille.
“Matteo has shown extraordinary commitment and exemplary dedication in his path of growth,” explains Italian coach Gipo Arbino, a longtime mentor in I Tennis Foundation’s charitable programs, ”The victory at the Italian Under 16 Championships is the result of his unrelenting work and passion for tennis. This success not only rewards his talent, but also the support offered by the Intesa Sanpaolo Protection Little Tennis Champions project, which allows us to foster young promises like Matteo.”
Lastly, the words of star player Matteo Gribaldo: “I got on well right from the start with the whole team of I Tennis Foundation, which has always coordinated well with the clubs where I train with the goal of improving on the 4 pillars of tennis and raising my level as much as possible.
The support of Gipo Arbino, Emilio Sanchez and Ivan Ljubicic has been decisive in this path, as well as the mental path I took with Simone Bongiovanni, guided by Stefano Massari, Matteo Berrettini’s mental coach: thanks to this I improved in a short time my attitude in chief becoming more positive and looking more and more confidently to the next point.”
With this success of Matteo Gribaldo, the number of Italian titles won by I Tennis Foundation scholars over the years thus rises to four after the successes in doubles of Galli-Fiorillo (Under 15, 2023) and Martina Cerbo (U14 2023 and U15 2024).
ALESSANDRA FIORILLO SEMI-FINALIST AT ITALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS IN FORMIA
The Under 16 Women’s Italian Championships, scheduled at the Olympic Preparation Center in Formia, saw the excellent run of our scholarship player Alessandra Fiorillo, who surrendered only in the semifinals against the No. 2 seed in the draw Ylenia Zocco.
Alessandra had previously defeated Eleonora Baroni (2.6), Sveva Fumagalli (2.7) and Nicole Andrea Molaro (2.6).
Lots of bad luck instead for Francesca Galli, who was forced to miss her appointment with the tricolor due to a sprained left ankle during a domestic accident. A truly mocking injury, in the days preceding her departure for Formia, that ousted her from a tournament in which she would certainly have been among the main candidates for the final victory.