Federico Cinà immediately against the strongest: thrilling challenge with the Belgian Collignon

Monza – Run and gallop Federico China on the side courts of the Villa Reale Tennis in Monza. The eighteen-year-old from Palermo makes his seasonal debut on clay today facing the Belgian Raphael Collignon (seeded number 1 and 92nd in the world ranking) in a true test of maturity. The final in the Greek challenger of Hersonissos and above all the victory in the first round of the Masters 1000 over the Argentine Francisco Comesana have effectively launched the Italian into a new dimension, even if his father Francesco rightly pours water on troubled waters. “Working as a coach, it often happened that I brought the family with me during tournaments and Federico immediately showed that he has tennis in his blood – says Francesco –. He didn't even walk and he hit the ball with ladles, he grew up around the world and already knows what awaits him”.

Tennis It's in the blood, but the family doesn't lose sight of it the school, so much so that the boy will stop for a few weeks in the summer to take the diploma exam at a computer institute. “My son needs to live the experiences of his age, so we don't want the racket to become an obsession. What we aim for is to work every day with seriousness and professionalism, we have made our own the motto of Tim Notke, who quotes: hard work beats talent. Federico has great serenity, he demonstrated it in Miami, where he could have been sucked into a vortex of emotions, and instead he came out stronger. Our goal is to grow consistently, without experiencing ups and downs”.

Cinà is followed by an important agency such as IMG, which is opening doors for important experiences for him. “He took part in a Masters 1000, in a few weeks he will have another chance in the Masters 1000 in Madrid. Last year we were not ready, this year we accepted because the leap was evident. The feats of Jannik Sinner and the other guys allow us to progress without worries. Logically, we still have many aspects to improve: from the service to the forehand, which will consolidate with the passage of time. In the winter we focused on physical preparation, we spent seven weeks at the CONI Olympic Preparation Center in Tirrenia”.

So much so that Federico's team includes another technician like Claudio Galoppini, the physical trainers Stefano Barsacchi and Roberto Petrignani and the sports psychologist Danilo De Gasperi, made available by FITP. The curiosity to see Cinà at work on clay is considerable: "He loves fast surfaces. Red requires greater physical strength and the rallies are longer, Federico must grow a lot in this aspect. The Italian Internationals? We will talk about it with the Davis captain, Filippo Volandri, we will make the necessary assessments. What really matters is not to fossilize on the world ranking, but to think about growing technically and physically, the points will be the natural consequence". In the meantime, the family is enjoying the Brianza location: "Villa Reale Tennis is a fantastic venue, it pays great attention to detail". Collignon, today's opponent on the central court of via Boccaccio, represents a stimulating challenge: "We don't know him but it will be a tough test, given that it's a top-100: the important thing will be to give 100%, without looking at the result".