[Action Jackson]

Here is the thread to the man who has been able to form a team with Argentina instead of a bunch of individuals who were putting themselves first and lead them to the 2nd Davis Cup final.

Alberto Mancini is the man not afraid to make the brave calls and stick by them. Using Mariano Puerta in doubles on grass against the Aussies seemed foolish, but Puerta was the best player on court this day.

I remember when Shotgun Blues and myself said last year with Acasuso's improving form that he'd be a candidate for selection in 2006. Luli selected him against the Swedes and he has motivated Chucho in these matches, the perfect example against Hewitt in the semis.

[Choupi]

Thanks for starting this thread. It's true that Luli deserves his own place where he can be appreciated to his very own value.

[Action Jackson]

Here are some more Mancini pics.



2 misioneros together.

[Action Jackson]

These are funny ones for differing reasons.

[Action Jackson]

Little about the man.

Mancini is from Misiones and surprisingly he has an Italian ethnic background and there were moves trying to getting him to play for Italy, but he chose not to.

He won 3 titles and 2 of them were Monte Carlo and Rome in 1989 and he made the top 10 without ever playing on grass, what a guy. He made some other finals here and then, but was never the same due to injuries and a love of the good life and retired in 1994.

He coached Coria and was the best coach for him, but they split up and what was Coria's loss has been the gain of the Argentine Davis Cup team who were in turmoil after 2003 and then the players signed a letter saying that they either wanted Mancini or Jaite to do the job and the players voted for Mancini and he commands great respect amongst them.

He lives in Rosario and supports Newells Old Boys and his wife is pregnant.

[Hendu]

Originally Posted by GeorgeWHitler

Little about the man.

Mancini is from Misiones and surprisingly he has an Italian ethnic background and there were moves trying to getting him to play for Italy, but he chose not to.

He won 3 titles and 2 of them were Monte Carlo and Rome in 1989 and he made the top 10 without ever playing on grass, what a guy. He made some other finals here and then, but was never the same due to injuries and a love of the good life and retired in 1994.

He coached Coria and was the best coach for him, but they split up and what was Coria's loss has been the gain of the Argentine Davis Cup team who were in turmoil after 2003 and then the players signed a letter saying that they either wanted Mancini or Jaite to do the job and the players voted for Mancini and he commands great respect amongst them.

He lives in Rosario and supports Newells Old Boys and his wife is pregnant.

Mancini was born in Misiones like Chucho Acasuso, but was raised in Rosario, in Santa Fe (the province of Coria).

My sister (older than me), was a HUGE fan of him when she was a teenager.
She used to have a real size photograph, that she asked for at a sports clothing shop.

A clay court specialist, could also play on hard. In 1989 he made the Top Ten, after winning Rome and Monte Carlo. He was probably the best in Argentina in the eighties, along with Martín Jaite. But while Mancini only stayed on that level a couple of years, Jaite was able to keep it up for much long.

He had VERY heavy and powerful strokes (on both sides).

After retiring, he went away from the public eye. A very good guy, very humble, is liked by most of the Argentine tennis players, coaches, journalists.

I still remember the song in Davis Cup:

Vení, Vení, cantá conmigo, que un amigo vas a encontrar, que de la mano, del Misionero, todos la vuelta vamos a dar...

By the way, great thread.

[Hendu]

Some pics...

[shotgun]

Good thread GWH.

So Mancini's game was a bit like Chucho's? Heavy groundstrokes on both wings, though with a preference for longer points? Did he have a good serve?

[lau]

Nice thread!

EDIT: And talking about appreciation threads...., where`s Mr. Mo`s one? I looked for it a couple of times in non-tennis, but couldn`t find it... I didn`t spend too much time looking for it.., but I thought it was strange not finding it using the search feature....

[Choupi]

Originally Posted by lau

Nice thread!

EDIT: And talking about appreciation threads...., where`s Mr. Mo`s one? I looked for it a couple of times in non-tennis, but couldn`t find it... I didn`t spend too much time looking for it.., but I thought it was strange not finding it using the search feature....

Mr Mo's Appreciation thread has been moved into the Spanish Armada.

[Truc]

Originally Posted by GeorgeWHitler

Here is the thread to the man who has been able to form a team with Argentina instead of a bunch of individuals who were putting themselves first and lead them to the 2nd Davis Cup final.

As much as I like Luli, maybe that's giving him a bit too much credit.
He also is the one who tried again and again last year with a team which was obviously not working.
He built the 2006 team because it just couldn't go on like that, some players in the team were saying that too + the 2 "problem players" were totally out of form, it was logical to pick the players he chose.
He sticked to that team for the rest of the season, yes - but honestly, everybody would have done the same.

Good for him, and I do think he's a great DC captain for Argentina because of his good relationships with all the players, but I wouldn't overrate this "decision", he was forced to it too.

Originally Posted by GeorgeWHitler

I remember when Shotgun Blues and myself said last year with Acasuso's improving form that he'd be a candidate for selection in 2006.

That's not exactly what I remember, I'm pretty sure Shotgun explained to me at the time that Chucho wasn't a very good pick since he had never played a DC rubber, but never mind, that's off topic.

[shotgun]

Originally Posted by Truc

That's not exactly what I remember, I'm pretty sure Shotgun explained to me at the time that Chucho wasn't a very good pick since he had never played a DC rubber, but never mind, that's off topic.

You're partially correct.

I was re-reading the thread where this discussion took place. It was last December, and I was saying that the team Mancini would probably pick against Sweden would be Coria and Gaudio in the singles, and Nalbandian/Calleri in the doubles. You asked me why I thought he would pick Calleri for the doubles and not Chucho, then I replied mentioning Calleri's DC record and previous experience, and compared it to Chucho's total lack of experience. Nonetheless, in the same thread you can see that I was advocating for Mancini to try out players other than Coria for away ties on fast surfaces, given that Argentina was then (and still is in some way) in search for a reliable player other than Nalbandian on surfaces other than clay.

Two months went by and Coria and Gaudio were having problems and were (self) excluded from the tie, so the discussion now was who should be the second singles player behind Nalbandian. So I, GWH, Willy Cañas and Aguante_el_Gato (I'm not sure) were defending the idea of Chucho being called up for the role, since he was doing well in Vina del Mar, had been a regular top 100/top 50 for the past 3 or 4 years and was due for a chance.

[Truc]

Yes, I was referring to "last year", I didn't remember you defending Chucho a lot at the time.
But don't take it personally, I really was just joking, I couldn't resist by reading GWH's post.

To be forgiven for this digression:

This is supposed to be Mancini winning in Monte Carlo in 1989.

[shotgun]

Originally Posted by Truc

Yes, I was referring to "last year", I didn't remember you defending Chucho a lot at the time.

Are you accusing me of being a bandwagoner?

I'm joking. No worries, I don't take things personally on a message board, I was just trying to make it clearer.

[Action Jackson]

Originally Posted by WillyCañas

Mancini was born in Misiones like Chucho Acasuso, but was raised in Rosario, in Santa Fe (the province of Coria).

My sister (older than me), was a HUGE fan of him when she was a teenager.
She used to have a real size photograph, that she asked for at a sports clothing shop.

A clay court specialist, could also play on hard. In 1989 he made the Top Ten, after winning Rome and Monte Carlo. He was probably the best in Argentina in the eighties, along with Martín Jaite. But while Mancini only stayed on that level a couple of years, Jaite was able to keep it up for much long.

He had VERY heavy and powerful strokes (on both sides).

After retiring, he went away from the public eye. A very good guy, very humble, is liked by most of the Argentine tennis players, coaches, journalists.

I still remember the song in Davis Cup:

Vení, Vení, cantá conmigo, que un amigo vas a encontrar, que de la mano, del Misionero, todos la vuelta vamos a dar...

By the way, great thread.

Thanks for all the extra information. He didn't mind a party in the day.

Jaite was a harder worker, but Mancini had the talent and didn't mind the party life and his single hand backhand down the line was a quality shot and had some good performances on hardcourts, but was inconsistent, when inspired he could play very well.