Orsi, a proud father: “From football to padel, what an emotion for me and Carolina”

At the Foro Italico, very close to the Stadio Olimpico, the revolution was complete. “For everyone, Carolina was my daughter. Now I am the one who has become Carolina’s daddy. But I am very proud of this”. Fernando Orsi has played for SS Lazio for a lifetime, now – in addition to being a talent for Sky Sport – he is a dad and a fan. Carolina, a few weeks ago, won a historic gold medal in the women’s doubles at the European Games in Krakow, paired with Giorgia Marchetti, and tomorrow, as the ninth seed in the draw and paired with Spain’s Patricia Llaguno, she will make her debut in the BNL Italy Major Premier Padel against another Italian-Spanish pair (Carlotta Casali-Julia Polo Bautista). Carolina’s approach to padel was so strange. “She started with tennis – says Fernando –, then she also started playing futsal (where she came close to the Serie A). One day we were in Orbetello, we went to play a game of padel, a friend from the Circolo Canottieri Aniene watched her and said: ‘why don’t you come and try it with us? From that moment on, she can’t do without it”.

The rest is history: a radical change of life also for Carolina, who moved to Madrid: “I follow her with a lot of adrenalin and a bit of apprehension, as every father does with their child. I’m happy with the path she is on, which has also led her to leave her job to pursue this professional career. Sometimes it is right to take risks and pursue one’s dreams”. There are many Italians at high levels and with ambitions in this debut tournament of the women’s Premier Padel circuit: “The Italian movement has taken important steps: the medal was a reward for Carolina, for Giorgia and for the whole Federation. It seemed that against Spaniards and Argentines one cannot play, instead they were good and they did it’”. Orsi, in these days, will not be a tv commentator: “I’m not that technical, on the contrary, I would be too emotionally involved…”.