In the frozen WTA ranking on March 16, 2020, Giulia Gatto-Monticone occupies the 151st position worldwide, third Italian player behind Camila Giorgi (89) and Jasmine Paolini (95). In 2020 by the tennis player from Castiglione Torinese, the Fed Cup debut in Tallin in the challenges of Group I in the Europe-Africa zone, the failed qualifications in Auckland, Australian Open, Dubai and Acapulco, and the elimination in the first round in the Monterrey main draw. After the defeat against Potapova in Mexico, the blue traveled to Irapuato to take part in a $ 25,000 ITF tournament, where it stopped in the second round. Upon hearing the news of the cancellation of the tournament and the subsequent WTA 125K of Guadalajara for the coronavirus emergency, Giulia and her partner-coach Tommaso Tozzo decided to immediately return to Italy. “A trip that we will not forget”, Gatto-Monticone tells today on the pages of Tuttosport, “With the anxiety of not being able to return and with continuous contact with our family members who urged us to do it as soon as possible”.
“It wasn’t easy because from Irapuato to Mexico City we had to travel by car“, Giulia continues. “About 300 kilometers in 7 hours. Then the doubt and a little panic about being able to fly over Paris, with the looks of the premises that began to take on more and more dark tones towards the alleged Italian “greasers”. We left on Thursday evening and after sleeping one night in Paris, without the possibility of flying on Malpensa, now closed, we opted for the TGV, arriving on Saturday evening in a deserted Turin“. The blue is spending her quarantine at home with the family, working hard on the physical plane, for now no training with the racket: “I undertake two physical sessions a day,” adjusting “with trx, elastic bands and rollers, trying to consume the greatest possible energy, also because otherwise it becomes difficult to sleep at night. I also focus on prevention and maintenance from a physical point of view, aspects that are normally treated less during a regular season. Then I clean, tidy up and read, psychology texts, meditation “.
After the postponement of the Olympics (“I will try with strength and results to be in the game in 2021, it would be beautiful”) and the cancellation of Wimbledon, in a joint ATP, WTA and ITF announcement, have announced the suspension of the respective tours until 13 July, but Gatto-Monticone fears a further stop: “Personally I have the feeling that the times will be even longer. The problem is worldwide and perhaps some countries still face the most delicate phase. Unthinkable that everything can recompose in the short term, better to wait and resume when there will be for everyone, athletes and the public, the necessary certainties regarding health “.
