Cocciaretto: I will remember this tournament for the rest of my career
Last November, Elisabetta Cocciaretto was hitting tennis balls from a chair, beginning her rehab from knee surgery and determinedly seeking to reclaim the muscle memory that had taken her to brink of a Top 100 breakthrough on the WTA Tour.
Five months on, the 21-year-old Italian underlined both her resilience and desire to make up for-lost time, winning a gruelling three-setter with Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova to win the biggest title of her career on the ITF World Tennis Tour at W80 Oeiras.
A qualifier ranked 233 in the world and contesting just her sixth tournament since the injury cut her 2021 season in half, Cocciaretto won her seventh match of the week in Portugal in lung-busting fashion, prevailing 7-6(5) 2-6 7-5 for the perfect reply to a test of body and mind.
“I think it’s the longest match I had this year. It was very, very, very tough. My opponent today played very well, so I’m happy about that,” she said.
“Of course this title means a lot. I had some tough moments, some tough months. I remember when I had the surgery I started playing one month in the chair to improve the technique for the backhand volley.
“I started from December to play normally – it’s the fifth or [sixth] tournament I’ve played, so for me it’s very important. It’s important to win the tournament, but for me the most important is to be healthy and to play tennis because it’s my passion.”
Qualifier Elisabetta Cocciaretto completes a dream week at the #OeirasLadiesOpen W80, defeating Viktoriya Tomova 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-5 after 3h09 to seal her 7th win in a row and conquer the biggest title of her career. A fantastic final in front of ~ 1000 people. pic.twitter.com/sCWJ8Rzvvu
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) April 10, 2022
A former junior world No. 12 and semi-finalist in the girls’ singles at the 2017 Australian Open, Cocciaretto was making purposeful strides in her transition toward the top of the women’s game prior to last July. She had collected her first four ITF singles titles – including two at W60 level at tournaments in Paraguay and Chile in 2019 – and qualified for a Grand Slam for a third time at 2021 Roland Garros before injury struck.
“When I stopped last year I was 108 [in the rankings] - very close to being top 100,” she reflected. “[That] was my goal, but then came this injury. I remind myself, ‘okay, now you have to start again from 250 and play matches, but not think about the ranking. Just improve yourself every day outside the court and inside the court’.
“I think I did a good job, not just this week, but the weeks before, training and staying in the tough moments – because I had a lot of tough moments these last months. I stayed there and I tried to do my best and I think this is the result of the weeks before.”
Cocciaretto, who also reached the final at W25 Antalya in early March but fell to talented teenager Petra Marcinko, rises to No. 161 in the WTA rankings as a result of her biggest week yet in Oeiras - one that she believes will provide lasting memories.
"After the comeback and after tough months, it is the first title and also [my] first title in Portugal so I think it will be very good memories," she mused. "I will remember this tournament for the rest of my career, for sure."
Next on the agenda is a home clash against France in the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers in Alghero, where she will join a strong Italian team that features four Top 100 players in world No. 30 Camila Giorgi, No. 48 Jasmine Paolini, No. 85 Lucia Bronzetti and No. 86 Martina Trevisan.
Cocciaretto has made an excellent start to life in the Italian team, winning all five of the singles matches she has contested and helping her nation book its place in this week’s Qualifiers with two singles wins in their Play-off victory over Romania last year.
“Last year I played two singles and we won 3-1 and it was a very good weekend for us, but I think maybe this weekend there are a lot of Italian girls that are doing very well especially… Paolini, Giorgi, Trevisan, Bronzetti… so now I’m the fifth,” she reasoned. “I think that I’m not going to play, but we never know in tennis. We will see. It’s the captain’s decision. If she asks me if I want to play I will do my best.”