The farewell of great tennis: “Monza a fixed stop of ATP”
The crowd celebrates the tournament final. Sgariboldi: already working to get into the calendar
Raphael Collignon and Vitaly Sachko in the group photo at the end of the match with the kids from the Monza tennis club who worked for a week as ball boys
Monza – The Monza public is all for Vitaly Sachko, Ukrainian, yesterday at finals of the ATP Challenger Atkinsons Monza Open 2025. Despite the undeniable technical value of the Belgian winner Raphael Collignon, his competitor has won the sympathy of the public, who have gotten to know him during the week, following his progressive growth, with the patience and determination typical of the Ukrainian people, who have brought him to the final, serve after serve, even though he was not among the favorites at the beginning. And so at every point scored by Vitaly there was a thunder of applause, and a subdued “wave“ of disappointment and empathy at every ball out.
Tennis club full of fans since the early hours of yesterday morning, despite the rain having forced the postponement of the race, creating an ideal competition between the ATP Monza final and the ATP Montecarlo final, held at the same time. During the awards ceremony Raphael Collignon he thanked, among others, the city of Monza: “I felt at home, thanks also to the “physios” who took care of my body”, he specified in English, then thanking in Italian: “Thanks to all Monza".
Vitaly Satchko started directly in Italian: “Buona sera ragazzi”, then congratulating his opponent. An emotional thought went to his team and his Ukrainian staff: “You are not here with me, but I feel your love”. As Davide Sgariboldi, general manager of EuroItalia, title sponsor of the tournament, pointed out, ATP brought around 20 thousand people to Monza during the week: “We are already working – he anticipates – for the 2026, why the Monza Open should be a fixed stage in the ATP calendar".
Christian crippa, president of Villa Reale tennis Monza, thanked the technicians and sponsors, but also the teachers, the home athletes and the team of 80 very young ball boys from the school, all very happy to have participated. “Augusto Virgili gave me one of his wristbands,” Lavinia, 11, proudly recounts, “because his teammate had hit me with a ball by mistake.” Gianluca Brini, the official stringer, worked at a feverish pace all week: “I must have strung about 300 rackets this week,” he says, “by now I know the required tension by heart, but I always ask the athlete for confirmation.”