Flavia Pennetta Tennis Star

FROM THE ZURICH OPEN – The Italians have never had much time for the idea that if you haven’t made it by the time you’re 20, you won’t make it. In all their sports, they believe in the power of the mature player, and now the country with a 72-year-old head of government has a tennis player who, at 26, is threatening to go where no Italian woman has gone before.

Her name is Flavia Pennetta, and she’s into the semi-finals of the last-ever Zurich Open tournament in Switzerland. Having beaten the world No 1 Jelena Jankovic on Thursday, she followed it up with a 7-5 6-2 win over Katarina Srebotnik, and with a semi-final against her friend Anabel Medina Garrigues Saturday, who advanced when Victoria Azarenka retired with a right shoulder injury.

a run to the final of the last big European indoor event of the year is distinctly possible. There she might run into Venus Williams who bested Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-3, a player she has twice beaten this year.

With her ranking of 17 this week likely to rise by several places, she will be knocking on the door of the top 10 by the end of this year. But she has a mental obstacle to overcome – no Italian woman has ever been in the top 10! Silvia Farina-Elia got to 11, Francesca Schiavone too, in fact she came within a couple of wins of the top 10. Rafaela Reggi, Italy’s best player of the late 1980s, got stuck at 13.

Flavia Pennetta Tennis
Flavia Pennetta pictures
Flavia Pennetta Photos
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta