“I win matches and tournaments, I’m among the top 1000 players in Italy”

2023-09-02 19:53:33

“I’m in the first thousand of Italy in padel: mission achieved!”. Andrea Scanzi rejoices on Facebook celebrating the result obtained in the sport which, for some years now, has fascinated millions of players in Italy and around the world. The journalist and writer recounts the ‘feat’ accomplished in just over a year, at an age still green but probably not very green for competitive activity and for starting a new discipline.

“A year and a half ago I started playing padel. I got a taste for it. I found a great group and a great reality, the Arezzo Padel Club. After 2022 of training and matches, I said to myself: ‘Why not start with tournaments?’ So it was. I set myself a very/too high goal: to get into the top 1000 in Italy before quitting”, Scanzi says on Facebook, describing a goal that “seemed impossible, or in any case not very easy. I don’t have a tennis background, I don’t have a competitive sports background (at least not at a high level) and I’ll be 50 in May. Uhm”.

Then, the routine: “The first six months of 2023 were crazy. Training almost every day (from 7 to 9 in the morning…), lessons, matches, tournaments. Almost always against much younger people, and (even more ) with a much more solid tennis and padel past. In addition, I had to reconcile everything with the ‘rest’: Done, TV, books, theatrical tours, private life, etc.”.

“Very often, for example, it happened that he did eight and a half and then immediately after he took the car to go and play a tournament late in the evening (and maybe lose in the first round). It was wonderfully delirious. Many disappointments came and many annoyances, but also many joys. Two tournaments won, the provincial title in the Italian Cup, a call-up to Serie D, four eighth-finals in the Open tournaments. What’s more, without ever having a permanent partner (even if they were all better than me, of course),” he continues.

“The updated rankings came out yesterday: there are 929 in Italy (949 to be exact, calculating the 20 in the first band)!!! I am well aware that there are hundreds/thousands of people better than me despite being behind me in the standings, but the rankings don’t lie and the immense satisfaction of the result achieved – against any prediction or almost – remains enormous. Even more considering that the Fit a padel members are more than 100 thousand in Italy…”, he says highlighting the result obtained.

And now? “I don’t know what will happen now. I could set myself new goals (is the best part now?) or maybe stop ‘at the apex’. I don’t know. But it remains a challenge won, and basically the challenges you give yourself are the ones that give you the most satisfaction. Especially when you win them. Hooray!”.