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TENNIS, A SWEDISH BACK IN ROME . They have been playing for years at the top of the world tennis, following the great Bjorrn Borg. But above all Swedish players have constantly won in tournaments played on hard courts, where they have gained a number of titles thanks to their tennis mainly based on exasperating regularity. Only Edeberg did not play in this way, showing instead the most classical serve and volley game that took him to win two Wimbledon tournaments and play two finals. Yet, the Swedish also went through a slack period, even though relative, given that in 1998 Sweden had a foursome able to win another Davis Cup at the expense of Italy. Then the Spanish, who have been winning for many years on hard grounds, inherited their role of infallible players. At this point Sweden waited for a great return, a player who was able to arouse their interest for tennis after that players like Wilander, Jarry, Bjorkman and Edeberg had concluded their career. Of that movement, it is worth mentioning some good players who had some success at intervals, such as Enqvist, Tillstrom, Gustaffson and Kulti. But the man Italian tennis lovers still remember, and whom they will know even more after his recent victory at men's Italy's International tournament of 2000, is Magnus Norman. Two years ago, his nervous soundness allowed him to win over Gaudenzi and a hot public in the inaugural match of the Davis final, at the Milan's Forum. Then the Swedish player with the two-handed backhand stroke did not seem to have an extraordinary shot or a devastating power, the characteristics that can turn a player into a champion. Yet Magnus, who recently has also been operated at the heart to remove a congenital defect from an artery, has built his career working hard. Like almost all his fellow countrymen, Magnus does not want to be a personality, but he is a simple athlete who only thinks about his profession. His triumph in Rome is the prize for having constantly fought to reach the top, an exploit only few experts thought possible; then the new bizarre system for calculating rankings, which is only based on seasonal performances, has allowed him to reach the first world position. This will not certainly be the greatest satisfaction of his life, as players themselves know the provisional character of this acknowledgement, but Norman has however reached this target. He is young (23), and he has all the time to consolidate his mental and sport soundness. He will not certainly change his regular way of playing to play short pinball-like matches. This is his strength (as chance would have it, he grew up in Borg's circle), and also his limit. For the time being he has won the Roma 2000 tournament and he is at the top of the world. And also his common sense is the fruit of his hard work on the fields. Let's hope that someone in Italy, maybe some players or federal managers, soon remember that, given that the Rome tournament, too, gave us, so to say, another humiliating result, with no Italian reaching at least the second round. Paolo Ghisoni

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