Lorenzo Sonego: "Wimbledon gives unique emotions. The important thing is to enjoy them"

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Wimbledon. Lorenzo Sonego never gives the impression of losing his composure on the court. He has fun, smiles, jokes with his corner, even when three consecutive balls from his opponent pinch the line and could understandably make him nervous. Yesterday, in the tie-break of the fourth set against the solid Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, executioner of Lorenzo Musetti in the first round of Wimbledon, his hand could have shaken a little after two match points wasted at 6-5. But no. With courage and the usual big heart that distinguishes him, Sonego, currently number 47 in the ATP ranking, came back from 3-4 and concluded with a winning serve a match that could have become complicated in the fifth, giving himself the third round of the Championships against the American Brandon Nakashima, while the sun finished its descent on the hill of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. “The atmosphere of Wimbledon is special, it is different from the other Slams. The emotions that this tournament gives you are unique. It is the Slam that I followed most closely when I was little, it reminds me of childhood and adolescence,” Lorenzo Sonego told Il Foglio, before adding: “It is a privilege to be here. I want to enjoy it from the first to the last point, from the first to the last minute. And for now I am taking some great satisfactions”. When we ask him if he feels the magical sensations of the last Australian Open, where he played a sumptuous tournament, stopping only in the quarterfinals against the American Ben Shelton at the end of a very hard-fought match (his best result in the majors), he answers us like this: "Yes, these tournaments definitely give me an extra boost. I like the long matches of the Slams, they stimulate me, because you can try different solutions, you have more possibilities to recover and change the match if things go badly at a certain point". But "the most important thing", Sonego underlines, "is to enjoy it, to have fun".

A philosophy of life. “I always try to see the positive side of things, to take what happens philosophically and improve myself so as not to waste negative energy on the court. When the point is over, it’s over and that’s it, it’s the past. What matters is the present and the point to come. The most important work a tennis player has to do is on his attitude on the court,” the Italian tennis player explains to Il Foglio. At 30, Lorenzo Sonego, from Turin and a fan of Torino, who grew up with Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as idols, not only has a brilliant career as a tennis player behind him, with four ATP titles, a Davis Cup as a protagonist and a best ranking of number 21 in the world, but also a past and present as a singer. Together with his childhood friend AlterEdo – stage name of Edoardo Pepe – born in Palermo but living in Turin since the age of two, he recorded a single in 2021 entitled “Un solo secondo”, a song that mixes pop sounds with rap influences, characterized by introspective lyrics that reflect on the challenges, joys and fleeting opportunities of life (on Spotify, in 2023, it surpassed the milestone of one million plays). Last week, Lorenzo and AlteEdo churned out a new single, “Mia Madama”, which celebrates love, roots and emotions linked to Turin. But it is also a hymn to freedom and lightheartedness, underlines the Italian tennis player, designed to become a stadium choir. “Yes, let's say that's exactly our idea. 'Mia Madama' was born to try to create a choir that everyone could sing. We hope it becomes one”, Sonego tells Il Foglio. “Mia Madama” is the duo’s fourth song, after the release of “Un solo secondo” in 2021, “Swing” in 2022 and “Cielo aperto” in 2023, according to a now consolidated tradition: publishing new music on the eve of Wimbledon. For Lorenzo, returning to Turin after the tournaments means recharging his batteries, embracing his loved ones, friends and family. “It’s important to come back and be able to spend time thinking only about having fun, about relationships, about what there is beyond tennis. You always have to train, obviously, do things seriously, of course, but also carve out moments to take your mind off tennis and find the right energy that you then need when you travel,” Lorenzo Sonego tells Il Foglio. The force tranquille of Italian tennis.

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