After a very, very, very interesting article about Camila Giorgi’s, no, Sergio Giorgi’s woes, I swore I wouldn’t let that tarnish my observations of the man.
I was sure he’d be in Cleveland the second they announced that Giorgi would be playing for the Italian Fed Cup Team.
Like a fly on the wall, I observed Signor Giorgi this weekend. He guards his daughter and adores her, as much as I think I would do if my little girl ever becomes a WTA pro. He was never far from her side and he even showed up at all of her press conferences.
So I like the guy.
But he acts likes he’s never been to a tennis match before. On Saturday, I watched him take a photo of Camila leaning over the front row with an on-court ball boy while a point was being played in the Knapp-McHale match.
I didn’t get a photo of that.
On Sunday, with Knapp about to wrap up a Fed Cup victory for Italy, he was overcome with some other pressing matter during Knapp’s penultimate service game.
He stood and chatted with some of the Italian hitting partners.
Then, when the hitting partners had the good sense to sit down, he continued to stand and chat while Knapp went about her business 10 feet away.
That is my story.
—S. Fogleman
Steve Fogleman is Editor of TennisEastCoast.com, a Mid-Atlantic based tennis website. He is in Cleveland, Ohio covering the Fed Cup tie between USA and Italy for Tennis Panorama News.