Luciano Darderi
June 19, 2025
“My grandmother gave me my first racquet when I was four years old. I remember it was a blue Wilson. I’d play with my dad back when we lived in Argentina, where I was born, and it stuck when we moved to Italy. I realized tennis could be a serious thing when I played in the World Cup under 10 in Croatia. It’s a really special tournament for young players, and after competing I thought maybe I could give professional tennis a try. My dad is my coach to this day, and it’s really important to me because I’ve practiced all my life with him. We have a great relationship, and I hope it continues to stay that way. He’s 60 now, so he doesn’t travel a lot, but he tries to go to the big tournaments that we’ve dreamed about me playing all my life. Sometimes it’s hard separating my relationship with him. We used to fight more, but I think around age 15, I started to understand that he wants to help me. He wants the best for me. When that became clear, I started to feel better with him on the court. Outside of the court, we’re
“My grandmother gave me my first racquet when I was four years old. I remember it was a blue Wilson. I’d play with my dad back when we lived in Argentina, where I was born, and it stuck when we moved to Italy. I realized tennis could be a serious thing when I played in the World Cup under 10 in Croatia. It’s a really special tournament for young players, and after competing I thought maybe I could give professional tennis a try. My dad is my coach to this day, and it’s really important to me because I’ve practiced all my life with him. We have a great relationship, and I hope it continues to stay that way. He’s 60 now, so he doesn’t travel a lot, but he tries to go to the big tournaments that we’ve dreamed about me playing all my life. Sometimes it’s hard separating my relationship with him. We used to fight more, but I think around age 15, I started to understand that he wants to help me. He wants the best for me. When that became clear, I started to feel better with him on the court. Outside of the court, we’re