[HollowTip]

One of my favorite clay court players. He was very promising 3-4 years ago, but didn't really improve and couldn't catch a break with injuries either. Got to #159 at some point.

Posted a long message on IG today, so I talked to him, told him I hope he's not retiring to which he said "I already did". Obviously he was struggling with results and who knows what else. At the age of 25 it's always possible that he could try a comeback at some point, but my feeling is he's done for good. I'll miss the OHBH and those night clay court dramas in Italy.

This only shows how hard it is even for someone around #200 in the world to make it or at least make a decent living from this sport. To which I agree with Djokovic, something must be done.

Best of luck to El Bufalo in everything ahead!

 

[HollowTip]

I remember this amazing Challenger run in 2021:

View attachment 394355

I also remember his match against Ritschard where Moroni was leading 6-0 5-1 and managed to lose the match (Vesuvio Cup [Q] Alexander Ritschard (USA) vs Gian Marco Moroni (ITA)).

He had an aesthetically pleasing game. Tennis is indeed incredibly difficult for guys outside top 100.

Yep, I remember that match vs Ritschard too, got tight and crumbled.

Moroni had some good runs and wins 4-5 years ago, but often lost in the finals or near them.

in 2018 in Santiago he beat Miljan Zekic, Juan Pablo Ficovich, Thiago Monteiro and Sebastian Ofner and lost to Tommy Robredo.

In Alicante he beat Chazal, Coppejans, Benchetrit, Pedro Martinez and Attila Balasz and lost to Marco Cecchinato.

In Punta Del Este he beat Lipovsek Puches, Barrios Vera, Rodriguez Taverna and Gomez-Herrera and lost to Simone Bolelli.

In 2019 he had similar runs too, beat your guy Haase too at some point. In the Rome challenger he beat Ulises Blanch, Mate Valkusz, Filip Horansky, Adam Pavlasek and lost to Henri Laaksonen in the final.

Anyway, most of these names won't mean much to guys who don't follow the CH tour, but he was on the come up during that period. Injuries and not being able to adjust to other surfaces than clay really taxed him and I guess he couldn't do it anymore.

 

[HollowTip]

UPDATE: He's not retiring after all.

Dude played me, but if you combine his post with what he told me I really believed him and got back go memories about his matches...

Mods can delete the thread now. @NextGenKing can you delete it , man?

 

[HollowTip]

Hi mate, i not been mod for almost year

Damn, I'm slow on these things. How come?