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TENNIS

VIDEO: Watch Italian kids play tennis across the rooftops under lockdown

Tennis players, like athletes everywhere, are finding inventive ways to train with courts closed and contact banned, but two youngsters in Italy have taken it to a higher level: the roof.

Published: 20 April 2020 10:08 CEST
VIDEO: Watch Italian kids play tennis across the rooftops under lockdown
Vittoria and Carola hit a rally across the rooftops in Finale Liguria, northern Italy. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

When the tennis club in Finale Ligure, a small town in northern Italy, closed at the beginning of March, as part of Italy's fight against the coronavirus pandemic, its coaches challenged their young players to find inventive ways to keep training and to film themselves doing it.

The result is a series of videos posted on the Tennisclub Finale Facebook page. They showed youngsters practising their strokes with or without rackets or, in one case, with a long handled broom.

Several show players hitting balls against walls in the street or in parking lots or even in their bedroom or the family living room, with the wide-screen television positioned ominously close to the apex of the forehand swing.


Carola Pessina practices in her stairway. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

The videos resembled many others being posted on social media under the #tennisathome hashtag, but one stood out, catching the attention of the ATP and tennis players and fans around the world.

Vittoria, 14, and Carola, 11, climbed onto the rooftop terraces of their buildings, which face each other across the street.

There they lofted shots over the guard rails and the road, running round not only their backhands but also boiler vents as the ball bounced, not on the clay they are used to but on concrete slabs.

 
“It was their idea. They know each other well, they're friends and they live in neighbouring buildings,” their coach Dionisio Poggi, told AFP.

“They are not the same age, so they don't train in the same group and don't play in the same category. But they are both strong and play competitively,” the coach said.

“Carola, who is 11, is in the top two or three in the region in her age group.”

Carola serves to Vittoria from her building across the street. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Tracy Austin, a former world number one who built her game on hitting long, retweeted the video.

“This is next level #TennisAtHome! I don't think this can be topped. Keep the ball deep.”

Men's world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas was also impressed. “Really nice to see,” tweeted the Greek star.


Vittoria Olivieri collects fallen tennis balls using a fishing rod. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Vittoria and Carola are enjoying the attention.

“The girls saw that it was getting bigger. They're overjoyed,” said coach concluded.

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HEALTH

Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The World Health Organization's European office warned on Tuesday the risk of Covid-19 has not gone away, saying it was still responsible for nearly 1,000 deaths a week in the region. And the real figure may be much higher.

Published: 27 June 2023 13:27 CEST
Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The global health body on May 5 announced that the Covid-19 pandemic was no longer deemed a “global health emergency.”

“Whilst it may not be a global public health emergency, however, Covid-19 has not gone away,” WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge told reporters.

The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries, including several in central Asia.

“Close to 1,000 new Covid-19 deaths continue to occur across the region every week, and this is an underestimate due to a drop in countries regularly reporting Covid-19 deaths to WHO,” Kluge added, and urged authorities to ensure vaccination coverage of at least 70 percent for vulnerable groups.

Kluge also said estimates showed that one in 30, or some 36 million people, in the region had experienced so called “long Covid” in the last three years, which “remains a complex condition we still know very little about.”

“Unless we develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long Covid, we will never truly recover from the pandemic,” Kluge said, encouraging more research in the area which he called an under-recognised condition.

Most countries in Europe have dropped all Covid safety restrictions but some face mask rules remain in place in certain countries in places like hospitals.

Although Spain announced this week that face masks will no longer be required in certain healthcare settings, including hospitals and pharmacies, with a couple of exceptions.

Sweden will from July 1st remove some of its remaining Covid recommendations for the public, including advice to stay home and avoid close contact with others if you’re ill or have Covid symptoms.

The health body also urged vigilance in the face of a resurgence of mpox, having recorded 22 new cases across the region in May, and the health impact of heat waves.

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