Tathiana Garbin: “The tennis team is my pride”

TO Milan On June 18th at 5pm in the Milani room of the Polyclinic Tathiana Garbin presents, with the Coaching Federica Cocchi and the founder of the Libellular Foundation together Dr. Paola Martinoni, My match for life between joys and scars (Joints). It is an opportunity to get to know Tathiana Garbin better, the “captain” who brought the women’s tennis national team to Italy a win last November Billy Jean King Cupthe trophy equivalent to the Davis Cup, won by the males a week later.

Tathiana Garbin with Boarding Foundation Together

Tathiana Garbin says: «With Federica Cocchi who already knew them I wanted the publication of the book to represent a concrete gesture of support for the Desiem Libellular FoundationAnd. Are women who They support other women who are going through a difficult periodthe experience of the tumor and therefore I wanted to be with them ».

Lower the emotional volume

Why did he choose to make everyone know his game with the tumor?
«The book started from one personal requirement. At the time of diagnosis, which changes your life inexorably, I needed to lower the emotional volume of what he surrounded me, and to listen to me inside. Keep a diary, It was fundamental to acquire awareness of what was happening to me. The psycho-oncologist who followed me During the illness he suggested that I make a book to help other people. There are many who wrote to me while I was in therapy and therefore giving a trait of my life seemed important to me ».

The sense of challenges

How did this match with the disease made the person who is today?
«I believe that every challenge that is faced, every game, there servant to overcome an obstacle. But from that obstacle we must hurry up to ourselves, in the sense that it can serve to grow and improve. It has always been my thought as an athlete and then as a coach and coach. I have always seen the obstacle as the way to grow, to become a better person. I have always seen tennis as a tool to become the best version of me ».

“The one with the tumor is not a war”

Tathiana Garbin, in several passages of the book, in front of the diagnosis, the intervention, the subsequent difficulties, she underlines that she is happy with the life she has had. Many of the narratives that are made of the experience of the tumor is focused on the figure of the “warrior” … this is not the way she has chosen.
Yes it is just like that. I didn’t want the concept of war to enter my tumor storyof course tennis is a game where a rival is faced. But then that rival makes you grow. It can never be said thanks to the disease, but through it you understand many things of yourself. I have never heard the fear of dying because I lived so deeply my life, with enormous joys as if I had lived eighty years, that I was grateful to life, however it was gone. I had luck, because it also takes so much luck to make the right choices, to live a life I’ve always wanted.

“Tennis teaches to talk to each other”

Tathiana Garbin, do you do meditation?
I have always liked meditation. AND Playing tennis is also a continuous meditation, Because you turn to yourself in a predominant way. So, you also have to learn to structure the internal dialogue which is very important, in tennis and in life. It was always important to get to know each other and tennis, but in general sport, help you go deep and get to know you better and better.

That game in front of Mattarella

In tennis Italian athletes are increasingly important. There is an image that photographs this ascent, the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella at the final of the double Errani and Paolini in Rome (then won by Italian tennis players). But when the two athletes won at Roland Garros, all eyes went to Sinner’s defeat.
“Have Mattarella with us to the women’s final was an important momentfor all women’s sport. Italian tennis still has a more contained size, but I think qUete Italian athletes will make the difference in highlighting female tennis. The Federation is very important to treat male and female tennis in an equal way, and there is A really important commitment to ensure that there are many girls who play tennis “.

Didn’t you get angry even a bit to notice that everyone spoke only about Sinner’s match?
«One thing that I liked so much is that our Italian boys, Sinner Musetti Berrettini and all the others also highlight the results of women. When Sinner says “Not only me but also Musetti, but also Paolini” or when the men’s team won the Davis (in 2023 and 2024) the captain of the men’s national team Filippo Colangeli also recalls women (who won the same competition the Billy Jean Cup, in November 2024 and are in the arrival in the final in 2023, ed.). These are the victories of female tennis, These are the values ​​we want to introduce.

The golden season of tennis

What has changed from its entry into the tennis world?
«Having the number one in the world in the male, Jannik Sinnerhave The number four in the world in women, Jasmine Paolinihave a Slam winner, Sara Errani, (which in addition to having conquered other victories in Slam tournaments has won the mixed double with Andrea Valvassori in Paris and the women’s double with Paolini), have The winner of an Olympic gold, Paolini paired with Errani in Paris, have the team formed by Lucia Bronzetti, Jasmine Paolini, Sara Errani, Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Martina Trevisan who Billy Jean King Cup winsthe most important team competition in the world is something that has never happened. These results are extraordinary and every year these great girls and great boys are overcome every time ».

There is a growing respect for girls tennis, then?
«Yes, I see it from the recognition we have all over Italy but also all over the world. When we go abroad The other federations want to know how we move with our girls But also as we interwamped the enhancement network of younger girls ».

What does it mean to be “captain”

She is the “captain” of the national team. What role does this appellation indicates?
“I have the role of help and coordinate the work of all figures – There are many, in the book I quote many but there is also the Team Analist, the match analyst, several people who work behind me in the presence of these players. Competent and professional people who work with our girls every daythat the captain must be able to manage. My job is not limited to the Billy Jean King Cup week, but it is Knowing my athletes well during the year, for this journey often. I really know the players really well, because I have to know When to intervene in a sensitive moment of the game. It is a path that we do together with their private coaches you interface with.

Cold athletes on the pitch, hot outside

In the book, his strong personal relationship with the girls emerges, he writes that he felt very supported. Still, the image that is made of tennis players and tennis players is of very controlled athletes, almost cold in the emotional field.
“As a player You have to learn to manage emotions, Being a little a poker player, because your downstairs your opponent reads them. You have to learn to bring out emotions as many as possible when you are on the pitch. But off the pitch these girls and these boys are extraordinary people, they are champions on the pitch but they are even more off the pitch. They are authentic people, with whom in a moment of my difficulty we united in a very deep way. I gave a lot, I wanted to transfer everything I knew to my girls but what I received in those difficult months I had to pass, I got a lot of time. Obviously they are extraordinary women and men not only on the pitch: what emerges on the pitch is a small part. If I had a son a child I would have liked them like that“

Tennis is said to be a very individualistic sport. How do you transform many profiles so determined to fight to conquer your score, your position in the ranking in a team?
“It’s a question that I often asked myself. In the field you are only though Behind you there is a team that works for you in an incredible way. Coaches and preparers have the task of bring out talents and chase someone alt’s dreamro. And it’s not so obvious. An extremely altruistic job, they too are away from home like players. The boys and girls to this team love each other and know they want them. It is a unique thing, because not in all sports there is the family, as in tennis ».

“Italian tennis players are a real team”

And this also applies to the athletes with each other, despite the great competition? It is a commonplace that women are not good at teaming up in work …
“I am really proud because In a difficult moment like the Billie Jean Cup, in which there is a captain who has to choose between five playersthe one who has to enter the field at that moment. At the time of my choice it is evident that someone is less happy, but what prides me is to look at the team that behind me, He supports the player that I chose very strongly And therefore the reference to a common goal is strong to something stronger, more important ».

Counts the love of those around you

What part of his experience do you want to share with women who have the challenge of the disease in front of them?
“Cling to the people who love you and who love youlove manages to cross every limit, even that of the strongest pain. And I really heard a hug and not only from my family members, by the people I love, but also from the world of tennis who truly embraced me in that moment of great difficulty. Having a team by your side is the one that makes the difference, And the team also means having a psychologist who follows the path, and a nutritionist because even those who have always taken care of me, must be careful how they feed. Feeding the head the soul and the stomach correctly is my message ».

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