Laura Golarsa, former player and founder of the host club: “We want to test our organization and our players”
Italy will have a new ITF tournament on the calendar. And not in just any location. From 15 June, in fact, the Golarsa Sport Center, the heart of the academy founded by the former player, will host a 30,000 dollar event in via Ciclamini in Milan, the highest category for tournaments of this type. A responsibility, of course, for a true excellence of Lombard tennis, but also an honor. “We had applied to host this event in November – says the director and founder Laura Golarsa, formerly number 39 in the world, former coach of Francesca Schiavone, Alberta Brianti, Corinna Dentoni Alessandro Bega, Lorenzo Frigerio, Francesco Vilardo and many others now also a voice for Sky –. Twenty days ago we received communication from Fitp that this slot had become free, asking us if we were ready. We said yes and started with the organization of the event”. A pleasure, of course, but putting on an ITF tournament, even if played at home, is not easy. “The costs are very high, between prize money and everything else, we are looking for sponsors and we are doing our best. They are not obvious steps but we immediately said yes because we want to test ourselves.”
reference point
—
Golarsa founded his academy in 2012 and immediately became one of the points of reference for Milanese tennis and beyond. Players in the ATP and WTA rankings train inside: “We strongly wanted this tournament especially for them, to help them play at this level at affordable costs – says Golarsa -. Unfortunately sometimes there is a lot of money to spend for tennis players of this level and we do what we can. We are also twinned with other tournaments in Lombardy, with Bergamo and Milan 2, so for all the players we follow these are great opportunities”. After all, in its history, Golarsa Academy has brought 18 players to ATP level and 6 to WTA level. The tournament will take place on clay, in a moment of transition in the season between the red and the green of the grass: “We had thought about playing it with the greenset (the surface of the Australian Open for example, so to speak), but we preferred the red”, says Golarsa. Italy is therefore preparing to host a new event with an entry list that promises to be prestigious for an event of this category.
