After Cobolli’s knockout, Darderi also risked elimination due to a stomach ache. Tonight the challenge between the Davis Cup teammates
Flavio Cobolli has already returned to Rome, eliminated in the first round rather than by his opponent an intestinal virus which debilitated him and prevented him from playing his best tennis. But also Luciano Darderi in the match with Cristian Guarin then he suffered serious stomach problems. Faced with two sets to zero and with the match point at 5-4 he risked ruining everything, Darderi says: “Before the match I took medicine for a pain in my foot but without a gastroprotector, so between the heat and the stress I had a terrible stomach ache. The rules only allow you to go to the bathroom for one minute and I couldn’t get myself together in such a short time. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it if the match got longer.” And in fact the match got longer but Darderi was able to go back to the bathroom thanks to the medical intervention requested by his opponent to treat the blisters on his foot, so the blue finished his needs and won the match in the tie-break of the third set.
The blue derby
A wake-up call for the other Italians remaining in the race. After the elimination of Cobolli and Berrettini, Nardi also ended up knocked out tonight Lorenzo Musetti and Lorenzo Sonego will compete, not only Davis Cup teammates but also friends. Musetti greeted the draw with a joke: “I wish him the best, but not too much.” The world number 5 made his debut in Australia, beating the Belgian Collignon not without some difficulties. In the end the opponent’s withdrawal made the day less stressful for Musetti. Sonego instead eliminated the Spaniard Tabernier in three sets without too many difficulties. In November in the Paris indoor Masters 1000 Sonego had beaten Musetti who was not happy with his debut in Melbourne: “I didn’t like it, in the end I managed to serve better, to be more incisive with my forehand and to vary with my backhand”. And on the friendship with Sonego: “There were good moments together, but you have to leave them aside a bit when you enter the field. The friendship always remains, but then professionalism and the desire to win must prevail.”
