The fascination in the shadow of the Stadio Olimpico

Foro Italico again after 3 years. Due to Corona, the last two editions of the “Internazionali BNL d'Italia” only took place online for the vast majority of journalists, but at least last year with a few spectators. Now thousands of them are making a pilgrimage through the complex again. There is something fascinating about this monumental sports complex, which was built between 1932 and 1938 and opened in 1934 with a Davis Cup game against Switzerland and was once called “Foro Mussolini”. It was built to bring the 1940 Olympic Games to Rome. It was given to Tokyo back then, but it wasn't even held because of the Second World War. It wasn't Rome's turn until 2. Not only does one of the largest tennis tournaments in the world take place here every year. In the swimming stadium on site, Tania Cagnotto won World Championship silver in 2009, and Stefano Ballo will compete here at the European Swimming Championships in August if he qualifies. The largest stadium is the “Centrale”, which was newly built in 2010 and can accommodate 10.500 spectators and where Jannik Sinner will make his debut on Tuesday evening. There is also the Grand Stand Arena, which was only completed before 2019 after a construction period of 7 years, with a capacity for 7000 fans. Pure history Most players from Italy prefer to play on the “Pietrangeli”, which has been around for 88 years. This means that the pitch is officially only one year older than Nicola Pietrangeli, after whom the stadium was named. Pietrangeli will be 89 years old in September and is the player who has celebrated the most Davis Cup victories. 120 in total. 78 in singles, 32 in doubles. Officially there is only room for 3720 spectators, but it feels like the same number crowd around the 18 statues made of Carrara marble during important matches, which look down on the players in an impressive way. Andreas Seppi celebrated one of his greatest victories here 10 years ago and defeated Stan Wawrinka in 6 tiebreaks after defending 3 match points. The fans were upside down. Just like the 2007 victory of Filippo Volandri, the current Davis Cup captain, against Roger Federer, the then number 1 in the world. The Olympic Stadium is also just a stone's throw away. And on Wednesday, tennis will only play a minor role in Rome this week. Tomorrow the cup final between Inter and Juventus will take place at the “Olimpico”. And crowd favorite Jannik Sinner can't ignore football either.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

The fascination in the shadow of the Stadio Olimpico

Jannik Sinner will also start his home tournament in Rome on Tuesday evening. Dolomites editor Stefan Peer is already in the Italian capital and reports on the fascination of this sporting event.

Suggestions

Comments (0)