Gianni Clerici

Born in Como, Lombardy, Italy on July 24, 1930, Gianni Clerici was not only a celebrated tennis player but was also a tennis journalist, columnist and reporter, a tennis commentator and is considered to be one of the world’s foremost experts in tennis.

His fascination in tennis started early. In 1947, at the age of 17, he and his partner became the winner in the Italian Junior Championships doubles, which they were also able to defend the following year of 1948. In 1950, while he was 20, he won the 1950 Galea Cup as a junior tennis player in the singles category and became a finalist in the Italian Junior Championships. In 1952, he also won the Monte Carlo New Eve Tournament. One of the highlights in his career was when he became part of the main draw at Wimbledon in the year 1953. Thereafter, he continued to join more than 170 Grand Slam tournaments.

Clerici also became a sports journalist and has written over 6,000 articles concentrating mainly on tennis. His career began in 1956 when he became a columnist and reporter for a daily newspaper, “Il Giorno” in Milan, Italy. He also had been writing for the weekly “L'Espresso” since 1960; and since 1988, for “La Repubblica”, Rome’s leading paper. He came up with an instructional guide “Il Vero Tennis” (“The Real Tennis”) in 1965, which was followed by the "II Tennis Facile" (“The Easy Tennis”). In 1972, he became an international author after having written "500 Anni di Tennis" (“500 Years of Tennis”), which was translated in English as the “Ultimate Tennis book” and in other languages like French, German, Japanese and Spanish. In 1984, he wrote a biography on Suzanne Lenglen, a six-time Wimbledon champion and one of the original icons in women's tennis.

He was also successful as a tennis commentator for over 20 years, alongside his friend and co-tennis player, Rino Tommasi, he commented for SKY Sports. He and Tommasi met way back in the early days when the latter played in his hometown Como. Their style of commenting on tennis events was always awaited and drew audience and in fact, was made subject by “Time” in an article entitled “Tennis, Italian Style”.

Clerici was also a recipient of several awards. In 1987, he was awarded he “Prix Vallecorsi” as Best Italian Playright of the year. He also received the “Penna d’Oro” (“Golden Pen”) in 1992 as the Best Italian columnist. In 1998, he was designated as the “Sports Writer for Life” by the Italian Olympic Committee. He was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006 and became the second Italian to be elected the Hall of Fame following the induction of fellow Italian Nicola Pietrangeli in 1986.