Nardi and Selekhmeteva talk coaching influence after progress in Paris
Coaches and their ability to boost performance levels proved a major topic for discussion after a day of upsets saw a host of seeded players crash out of the Roland Garros Junior Championships.
In the boys’ draw, Brazil’s Natan Rodrigues, Li Hanwen of China, Switzerland’s Jeffrey von der Schulenburg and South African Khololwam Montsi all bowed out of the tournament following, on paper at least, surprise defeats.
The girls’ draw followed a similar trend in so far as top seed and current world No. 1 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva was defeated by Russia’s Alina Charaeva, ending the possibility of the Andorran claiming back-to-back Junior Grand Slam titles.
Italy’s Luca Nardi accounted for Von der Schulenburg on his Roland Garros debut, prevailing 6-3 6-2, as the 17-year-old reached the third round of a Junior Grand Slam for the first time in his career. He will now face Lilian Marmousez, who defeated Li, in round three.
Nardi, who won his first professional tournament at M15 Sharm El Sheikh in March, was quick to point to the influence of his coach Claudio Galoppini, who he has been working with for the best part of a year.
“Late last year I started to train with Claudio, a federation coach, who changed my training a little bit and now my tennis is getting better,” Nardi told itftennis.com. “It is not an excuse, but when I am with him, I am very calm and I play very well.
“At the Australian Open earlier this year, he wasn’t with me and I didn’t feel that good. Now that he is following me and is with me at all my tournaments, I feel that I am playing very well.
“I am very happy with my game and I’m very happy because this is my best Grand Slam result. I played at the US Open last year and then at the Australian Open and I won just one match. This is my best result and I am very happy.”
Nardi is one of five Italian boys to compete at Roland Garros this year but he is the only one to reach the third round, while if he was looking for inspiration from his homeland then Lorenzo Musetti would certainly fit the bill.
In 2019, Musetti became the first Italian – boy or girl – to claim a Junior Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, while he has again hit the headlines last month.
By beating three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori, a previous US Open finalist, world No. 138 Musetti became the first Italian teenager in 31 years to reach the round of 16 at the ATP tournament in Rome.
He has since triumphed at the Forli Challenger 100, beating the likes of Frances Tiafoe of the United States and fellow countryman Andreas Seppi as he claimed his maiden title of 2020. For Nardi, emulating Musetti would be no bad thing.
“For sure, it is a good period for young Italian players,” he said. “Lorenzo Musetti is one and he has given me so much inspiration to work hard and try to be a better player. I hope in the future I can be like him or even better. Players like him push me to do better.”
Despite the demise of several seeded players in the boys’ draw, there were no such problems for Switzerland’s No. 8 seed Leandro Riedi, who dispatched Peter Fajta of Hungary to set up a showdown with Great Britain’s Felix Gill, who overcome Montsi.
Brazil’s Gustavo Heide and Martin Breysach of France also safely negotiated their second-round matches, and will now face Alex Barrena, who accounted for Rodrigues, and Juan Bautista Torres respectively.
In the girls’ draw, No. 8 seed Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia was one of the big winners after defeating Ukraine’s Daria Lopatetska, who won three professional titles at W25 level in 2019, in three sets. She will now face Germany’s Alexandra Vecic for a place in the last eight.
Like Nardi, Selekhmeteva – a semi-finalist in last year’s girls’ competition at the US Open – also spoke about the influence of a coach on her career but it proved a story which showcases some of the hurdles junior players are forced to overcome.
“I was five years old and my dad asked me if I wanted to play tennis and I said ‘of course’. I was that kind of child who had so much energy and you have to put it somewhere,” Selekhmeteva told itftennis.com.
“We went to a big club in Moscow. When one coach saw me, they said that I was not talented, not fast enough, and that it was better if I went to the other coach, who was looking after the kids just playing for fun rather than it being serious.
“For sure, that has always stayed with me. I am the type of person that if someone says I can’t do it, I am going to try and do it to prove them wrong.”
Joining Selekhmeteva in the third round is fellow Russian Charaeva, who overpowered Jimenez Kasintseva 7-5 2-6 6-3. Charaeva, who is playing her first junior event since last year’s US Open, will now battle for a place in the quarter-final with Matilde Paoletti of Italy.
No. 3 seed Elsa Jacquemot of France dispatched Romana Cisovska of Slovakia to safely take her place in the third round where she will go head-to-head with Great Britain’s Matilda Mutavdzic, who accounted for Russia’s Elina Avanesyan.
Elsewhere, No. 10 seed Kristina Dmitruk advanced at the expense of Germany’s Eva Lys, and will now do battle with Czech Republic’s Darja Vidmanova after she dispatched home favourite Aubane Droguet.