Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/193236
Alessandro Calbucci (ITA) ITFWorld: How did you get into beach tennis? World No. 1 and reigning beach tennis World and European Champion Alessandro Calbucci: I discovered the game in my region, close to Ravenna, Italy, 20 years ago and I started playing professionally in 2008. I've seen the game grow all around the world and every time I travel I find a bigger beach tennis community. In Brazil, France, even in Japan, beach tennis is becoming a big sport. ITFW: The majority of the current top 10 in both the men's and women's rankings are from Italy. Why is the nation so good at beach tennis? Calbucci: We have the best conditions for beach tennis in Italy, especially on the east coast. We have no wind and not an especially nice sea so you have to do something on the beach instead. We have a long and huge public beach and endless kilometres of beach tennis courts that encourage all types of people to play — amateurs, professionals and so on. We have a big base of players and at the moment we are exploiting the advantage this gives us. ITFW: Do you need a strong tennis background to excel at beach tennis? Calbucci: In Italy, the best players don't come from tennis. We are 100 percent beach tennis players. Of course, since the game became a part of the ITF many ex-tennis players started to play. Tennis is good at the beginning but after a while it can be an obstacle. If you played tennis professionally you have to get out of your habits. A lot of the new generation of players are growing up playing beach tennis as their first sport. Russia's Ekaterina Kirgizova and Levan Nanava in Brighton Japan's Susumu Nakajima at the World Team Championship in Moscow Italy's Veronica Visani and Sofia Cimatti celebrate their World Championship title www.itftennis.com Italy's Giorgia Gadoni and Alex Mingozzi Italy's Luca Carli and Michele Cappelletti finished runners-up at the World Championships in Cervia ITFWORLD AUTUMN 2013 7