Luca Nardi is a young Italian tennis player, taking the ATP Challengers Tour by storm. Despite being ranked 118th in the world, the 20-year-old has had his finest professional season in 2023. At the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters, Nardi defeated Valentin Vacherot to record his first-ever Masters 1000 men’s singles match victory. The young Italian has qualified for the NextGen Finals as well and will be one of the favorites to win the title in Jeddah soon.
Nardi competed until Friday in Yokohama, Japan in the ATP Keio Challenger tournament but was defeated by Michael Mmoh of the United States in the quarterfinals in an entertaining 3-set match. However, there has been increased level of interest regarding the Italian now, perhaps since he rejected an opportunity to play at Davis Cup for Italy for an ATP Challenger tournament instead.
Nardi’s decision to prioritize his own career has come up for debate. However, the Italian seems to be happy to not play alongside Jannik Sinner and co. to concentrate on his own career. Ironically, despite being more successful than Luca Nardi, Jannik Sinner himself did not play the Davis Cup Round of 16 a few weeks ago in order to rest up for the final round of ATP tournaments and the ATP Finals besides the Davis Cup Final 8 stage.
Nevertheless, the Davis Cup 2023 would have given Luca Nardi the experience of sharing the dressing room and court with some of the best players in the world. The Italian team is filled with high-ranking players in singles like Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Sonego. Also, other top players like Novak Djokovic and Alex de Minaur are still competing at the Davis Cup for rival countries.
However, Nardi’s decision to concentrate on his career is understandable. The Italian added more prize money to his kitty after competing at the Keio Challenger trophy. The 20-year-old has now earned $265,712 in prize money in 2023. It served as ideal preparation for the NextGen Finals as far the Italian is considered, who is just 2 years younger to Sinner.
Luca Nardi aims to emulate Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini
Luca Nardi is an tennis prodigy from Italy. The 20-year-old is attracting a lot of interest from fans and players alike for his free flowing style of play. Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas recently praised the Italian after their second round clash at the Astana Open 2023. Tsitsipas admitted that the Italian gave him a tough fight and is expecting bigger results from him in the future.
Italian tennis is on a rise, as Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini are leading the pack. However, Nardi is not far away from making a mark on the sport. He will hope to not only have a good NextGen Finals, but also make a mark on the Grand Slam stage in coming years.
