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TENNIS, TATHIANA GARBIN, A WINNING ITALIAN . She has not the constitution of the Williams sisters, nor Hingis' shot or Davenport's strength. Yet, she has proved that the crisis that currently affects Italian tennis can be dealt with in two ways: with professional soundness and commitment. Tathiana Garbin, a 22 years' old girl from Mestre, is the first Italian tennis player who has managed to win in a WTA tournament since a very long time. At the final in Bucharest, she won over Dutch Boogert, therefore achieving a goal her male colleagues have not been able to achieve since years. But whereas men's category appears to be in dire straits, it seems that women are gradually starting to recover. Tathiana is currently the strongest Italian tennis player and the one who has made more progress in women's ranking. Moreover, Farina, Grande and junior players Vinci and Pennetta, also seem to be very promising. To sum up, even though not being at the top, the Italian tennis movement is demonstrating that it is able to achieve excellent results also at world level. It is now certain that Italian girls are more prone to sacrifices and the high-pressure life of tennis tournaments than their male companions. Leaving aside results, this is also proved by the turnover and longevity of female athletes, who have been playing at top levels for many years. Garbin is thus only one of the numerous examples of Italian players who play all around the world to gain points and prizes. Raffaella Reggi, currently the leader of the Italian team and previously a prominent player, told us in Australia that she counted a lot on the spirit of sacrifice of this young Mestre-based girl, who is always playing all around the world trying to move up in the ranking. Recently, I also had the chance to talk with her in an unusual place for a tennis player, i.e. a football stadium. In fact, Juventus was to play at the Sant'Elena stadium of Venice, and Tathiana, who is a hot Juventus supporter, rushed there to see the match, taking advantage of one of her rare breaks. She had just come back from Bogota, where she played the final, and she told me that she had spent a prolific week from an agonistic viewpoint, but certainly not in terms of social life, having lived in a sort of seclusion. In fact, after that her companions left for Italy, having being defeated at the beginning of the tournament, Garbin spent all her evenings in her hotel, watching TV and dining in her room. Therefore she never left her hotel not even to take a walk along the streets of the Columbian city, which are certainly rather dangerous for an unaccompanied girl.  Then destiny paid her back with a defeat in the final, but now in Bucharest it's her turn; until now her only success worth of mention was the gold medal won at the Mediterranean Games: now with her victory in Rumania, Tathiana will move up even further, but her spirits and self-assurance will certainly benefit even more. Italians should not think of having finally found Steffi Graf's heir; Tathiana has a good shot, a great willpower and is a fairly good fighter. Yet, she will never be a tennis player able to outclass her colleagues. Her way of playing reflects her tenacity: a puzzle with many pieces to make up with few strategic moves, not using the strength like the two Williams sisters or Davenport, but rather winning step by step, using the intelligence and practicalness of one who knows her limits and who is able to strive hard to obtain the best possible results. All that would also be sufficient for Italian male players. But perhaps it is better to admit that in this case men represent the weak sex. Who knows how many boys in Bogota living in the same situation as Garbin would have chosen to live in seclusion for a week or would have rather preferred to come back to Italy? Professionalism mainly means that. Then, we hope that the next "seclusion" will be once again rewarding for Tathiana.    Paolo Ghisoni

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