Guardian Angels with Golden Hands: “Tennis Players’ Health Is the Priority”

Monza – Behind the performances of the clay champions atATP Challenger Atkinsons Monza Open 25, there are physiotherapiststhe wellness center of the Zucchi Clinical Institutes: angels with golden hands to whom athletes turn to best prepare for competitions. The ZucchiSport Center, a stone's throw from the Monza tennis club, provides a staff of 10 physiotherapists and 7 rotating doctors (one is always present every day), as explained by Dr. Maurizio Lovato, an orthopedist, with various specialties related to the world of sport: in addition to the orthopedist, there is a cardiologist, a physiatrist and a doctor who already follows the Serie A football teams. To offer assistance to the ATP, an ad hoc clinic was created, with beds, mats, balls, therabend. Then for any more in-depth tests, reference is made to the center in via Appiani.

“We have created a shift work staff - he says Roberto Volpi, coordinator of the physiotherapy team -, in the morning we start with therapeutic warm-up, with taping and joint work, as well as pre-race and maintenance massages. The same is repeated after the race to relieve fatigue”. The athletes complain of previous injuries from overload, especially to the shoulders and ankles because the season is very intense, with few days of recovery between one appointment and the next. “The higher you go in level - Volpi observes - the more severe the problems are”.

Athletes see physiotherapists for the first time, on a rational level there is little confidence but they immediately feel the excellent manual skills and competence. Tennis players have great awareness of their body and know how to pinpoint problems exactly. Some bring their own trusted physiotherapist with them who then collaborates with the team at the Zucchi Clinical Institutes. English is a bridge language, but the language of the hands is what creates the deepest connection and immediately helps to establish a relationship of trust, well beyond words.

“In addition - says the physiotherapist - the all-Italian propensity for gestures comes to the rescue and over time has become international, with a series of gestures that indicate technical interventions: step and leg extension have their counterpart in sign language, considering that anatomy is visually international”. Every half hour, an average of two athletes pass by the mini clinic set up at the tennis club. From 9 to 20, all appointments are sold out. Technical organization and iron preparation are supported by an authentic passion for sport, from the first to the last of the health workers.

He also remembers it Professor Claudio Manzini, head orthopedic surgeon at the Istituti Clinici Zucchi, who has followed the evolution of the ATP Challenger for 7 editions. “I come from sports - says the professor -, I am a tennis player and a hundred-meter runner. In the past years the medical part was prepared in a more familiar way and I organized it directly. Then it was structured better and better and this year every detail was fine-tuned by our health management, according to a rigorous protocol that guarantees our daily commitment to the well-being of the athlete”.