The well-known tennis journalist of the Sky Sport broadcaster Stefano Meloccaro gave an interview for the Italy Tennis Players twitch and youtube channel talking about the possibilities that Italy could have in the next Davis Cup.
But he also give his opinion on what we could expect from two superstars of this sport, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. About Novak Djokovic who won his 22nd Slam at the Australian Open, despite a fairly serious injury, meloccaro told: “We can discuss this quite seriously, but if he plays like this when he has serious enough problems, let alone when he doesn’t have them.
Nole will be seeded virtual number one throughout the season wherever he goes to play. I see him as a slam record holder already this year. He will be able to win at least another slam for sure if events outside the tennis players don’t happen”.
The journalist replied if we are at the closing credits with Rafael Nadal: “In Paris I would always like to find him on the other side of the draw if I played, I say this very frankly. But yes, I find it hard to think that in a year we will meet again here and Rafa will still be perky.
He gave, he did a lot of kilometres.”
Meloccaro on Davis Cup
On the new format of Davis Cup and on the possibility that Italy can triumph in 2023, he told: “We have to make the due differences because this Davis Cup is different from the one that existed before, but I’m not too sorry about this current one either.
I don’t agree with those who say it was better before, they have to improve but I don’t mind. We could have won it last year too but we were a bit unlucky in Malaga. We almost won it with Sonego singles player, with all due respect to him who did wonderful things in Malaga, but if we line up the best Sinner and the best Berrettini we are seeded number one even if the rankings don’t say that.
They are close in terms of manifestations (referring to the time difference with Davis ed) but the fact that he has set up a mixed tournament has differentiated him a bit from Davis. I don’t mind, it’s an early season tournament clearly somewhere between an exhibition and a real tournament, but I like these types of formats.
It’s good for entertainment and for women’s tennis which needs to recover some passion in its fans because today they are a little less recognizable than they used to be, also due to the alternation at the top. Bringing women’s tennis closer to men’s by playing a mixed tournament for nations is something I liked.”
