By Scoop Malinowski
Status: Member of Italy’s 1976 Davis Cup winning team. Semifinalist at 1977 U.S. Open and 1978 Roland Garros. Winner of five ATP singles titles. Captain of Italy’s Fed Cup Team which has won three Fed Cups (2006, 2009, 2010). Captain of Italy’s Davis Cup team.
DOB: February 19, 1953 In: Udine, Italy
First Tennis Memory: “Well, a very nice age that I started tennis. It’s been very, very fun with many great emotion, satisfaction and many tough matches.”
Inspirations: “Well, maybe Ilie Nastase. That was the player of my era.”
Greatest Sports Moment: “Maybe in 1976 – I win the Davis Cup. Then I play semifinal of U.S. Open (1977) and semifinal of Roland Garros (1978). I’ve been #7 in the world (1978).”
Most Painful Moment: “When I stopped to play [smiles]. It was really a bad moment because it was against my will. I’m not the type to stop but I have tennis elbow problems and I make the first surgery and then the second, then I had to stop against my will. I stop in 1984.”
Favorite Tournaments: “Maybe Roland Garros is my favorite. It’s a clay court – my surface that I preferred to play on.”
Toughest Competitor Encountered: “Bjorn Borg, for sure. It was very tough to beat him. Impossible for me [laughs]. We played a lot of times but I never win.”
Strangest Match: “Was with Jimmy Connors in the semifinal. I don’t know if you remember, in the third set in Forest Hills. In the third set he come on my court and cancel with the foot the sign. I was speaking with the linesman to ask and see to come and check the sign because the ball was out. They call it in. Jimmy Connors come around and pass on my side of the court and cancel the sign with his foot, and go again on his court. That was strange, to cancel the sign but same now might be disqualification.”
Favorite Players To Watch: “Easy to say, Federer. I think Federer is the most beautiful tennis player to see in this era, this moment. I like also Nalbandian is very good tennis I like.”
Funny Tennis Memory: “I remember it was funny but sad also. We practiced in Nottingham, me and Tonino Zugarelli. Before Wimbledon. A bird fly toward the court and we hit the ball together, we cross the ball and we both hit the bird. We can’t believe it. We feel very bad because we went to do, because the bird disturbed the play for the game. So we killed the bird.”
Favorite Sport Outside Tennis: “I like the golf. And like all Italians, I like soccer.”
Last Book Read: “Game of Thones.”
Current Car: “I have a Volswagen (gray).”
Best You Ever Felt On Court: “One of the best matches I played was maybe against Lendl in Davis Cup. I was down 5-2 in the fifth and I won 7-5 in the fifth.”
First Famous Player You Ever Met: “Ken Rosewall when I was eight. He come when there was the Jack Kramer team. There was 25 of the best players in the world. They made a tour to make an exhibition in my city, Alessandria, where I start to play tennis. And I was one of the ballkids for Ken Rosewall in that exhibition. I played some balls with him. And I meet him for the first time. A really great player. Then I play with him too in the tournament too because he played till 41 years old.”
Why Do You Love Playing Tennis: “The passion I think. There is not reason. Tennis is a passion that you feel inside, something that you like very, very much. The most important thing for you. And you like very much profession. I start to play in the small yard in my house. We start to play, when it’s possible, every day. And it became my profession.”
People Qualities Most Admired: “I like people who are like a glass. You can see inside and not people who lie. Do you know what I mean? Honest. I like the people honest. That is the best thing I like, I think, from other people. Honest…in the bad thing and the good thing [smiles].”
Corrado operates the tennis web site www.Officinadeltennis.it
"Tennis is a passion you feel inside"
Scoop Malinowski · April 3, 2012 at 2:53 pm
This was a chance random spontaneous Biofile that I was lucky to get because I somehow recognized Mr. Barazzuti, a man who I had never seen play or met before (must have seen him on TV, maybe during Schiavone’s French Open win). Hope you enjoy this interesting Biofile…
shank · April 3, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Nice read. Thanks.
Scoop Malinowski · April 3, 2012 at 4:04 pm
You’re weclome Shank, thanks for reading.