The first detail that strikes anyone walking around the Foro Italico is the way history welcomes the present. Because for three weeks, with the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Rome’s sporting heart lights up: around 500,000 fans gather among the white marble of the statues and the clay courts. It is a universe that comes to life to let the best tennis players in the world play, to host those who have always loved tennis or those who in recent years have come closer to this sport thanks to the forehands of a player with orange hair. A universe that unfolds beneath the Roman pines, the gazes of the statues, the stories. The same ones that make a place unique. And that we told together with Reale Mutua, given that Italy’s leading mutual insurance company has renewed its agreement as Main Partner of the tournament for another three years.
We are talking about a relationship based on the healthy values of sport: competitiveness, fair play, constant improvement. And one that Reale Mutua has decided to tell together with an absolute champion: Jury Chechi, the Lord of the Rings, a true icon of Italian sport. The Olympic champion is the host of Back in the Game, the series by Reale Mutua that has welcomed some of the most important athletes in our country. Athletes who, just like Chechi, have known how to get back in the game after going through difficult moments. Gigi Buffon, Sara Errani, Marco Belinelli, Cristiana Girelli and many others. These meetings produced conversations full of anecdotes and funny moments. Because, as they say: champions understand each other
Jury Chechi stopped off at the Foro Italico for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the ideal setting to launch the new season of Back in the Game. Reale Mutua’s hospitality became a content hub where Chechi, as the perfect host and as an elite sportsman, involved talents such as Myriam Sylla and Claudio Marchisio in an inspirational sporting story for all fans.
And that is not all: a stone’s throw from Campo Centrale, Reale Mutua opened the doors to the challenge in the dedicated space inside the Fan Village. Thanks to the use of artificial intelligence, all visitors had the chance to take part in the experience by symbolically entering the programme broadcast on Sky Sport. Imagine the thrill of challenging an Olympic champion. Winning is difficult, very difficult. But not impossible. Not least because Back in the Game, in the end, is one big family. A home that welcomes fans and athletes. And so everyone passed through the hospitality in Rome: from Marco Belinelli to Lillo, from Giulia Penna to Valentina Barbieri. Presences that create a direct thread between sport, entertainment and shared values.
The Foro Italico is magical, as we were saying. A parallel universe that comes to life for three weeks. But for one universe that lights up thanks to the crack of balls on rackets and the chants of children, there is another that moves behind the scenes, in silence. It moves following the dance of procedures, the care for details. These are the people who work to protect a tradition, to preserve a passion. And at the Italian stop of the circuit there are so many of them: those who take care of catering, those who tell the story of the Foro Italico, those who look after the courts, the lines, the clay. As if it were a great machine moving to give the tennis players and the public the best conditions, whether to express talent or to experience an unforgettable day, where everyone feels part of a great community.
To give you an example, one name is enough: Francesco Pezzulli. You may not know him personally, but you will certainly have heard his voice if you have ever found yourself watching a Leonardo DiCaprio film. Pezzulli, in everyday life, is a voice actor. When he is not in front of a microphone, he plays tennis at the Foro Italico club. And during the Internazionali he is among the volunteers who take fans to discover the changing rooms and the exclusive places to which only the players have access. In short, unique moments. Also because walking through the Pietrangeli tunnel with Leonardo DiCaprio’s voice is an incredible experience. Hollywoodian, in fact.
Then there are the stories of the tennis players, those of people who play to confirm their talent and those who arrive quietly to knock on the door of the greats. It happened to Noemi Basiletti, who entered the main draw for the first time, or to Andrea Pellegrino, who beat Tiafoe and in the fourth round found himself facing Jannik Sinner. Maybe it is because they play at the Foro Italico, maybe it is the air of the city, but tennis, during the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, always offers new stories. References that matter on and off the court, becoming examples in each of our lives. For those who want to play, train, work. In short, have fun. Like Jannik Sinner when he is at the Foro Italico. Also because, if you are a champion, all clay courts lead to Rome.