In the stands the atmosphere became electric. People shout inappropriate insults, whistle and lose their temper. More than Foro Italico, it feels like being in Olimpico. However, cheering on the court is not a detail that is thought about in tennis. The Italian, whose name is Adriano Panatta, is arranging his loose and flowing hair in preparation for service. The Spaniard, whose name is José Higueras, is about to completely lose his composure and is about to become the protagonist in an exciting twist.
To understand what the hell is going on, you need a little context. Internazionale d’Italia, Rome, 1976. Panatta is clearly the local hero. Handsome, hero, Roman. Evidently, on the steps surrounding the rectangle of red clay, almost all of the seated fans were leaning towards it. I think he had to leave in a cold sweat and dig a furrow between his shoulder blades. In the first round, fate assigned him the notorious American Vitas Gerulaitis, the current champion and number four in the world. What kind of bad luck. In order not to be a talkative person at home, Adriano has to work very hard. They crossed the Stars and Stripes hurdle with scores of 7-6 and 7-5, recovering from a 0-5 deficit in the first round. I feel good. The audience is already in a frenzy and his opponent does not fail to protest the excessive momentum of the spectators. This is where the story begins to unfold.
In the second round, he disposed of Terry Moore with relative ease, while the round of 16 is only a paltry playoff, given the arrival of granite Hans Pfister at Center Court. Panatta is sweating hard to submit, since his opponent is equipped with a submission that resembles a rocket launcher. Anyway forward: 5-7, 6-3, 7-6. He defeated another American, Victor Amaya, and reached the semifinals. Here the matter of disagreement explodes. Here the Iberian higueras stand in his way. Which certainly starts out better, distorting our solutions with a series of tennis solutions that dishearten the audience. In fact, the first set ended 6-0 for Jose.
Things are definitely looking bad for the house idol. Higueras also scored points in the second set and led 5-1, one step away from a chance to reach the final and teach Panatta a painful lesson. However, here, the crowd gets angry and starts cheering loudly for Adriano, who feels supported and leaves behind a boring afternoon to take center stage. The Italian recovers a lot of points, but Higueras does nothing but complain that people are distracting him from serving and shamelessly supporting his opponent. The situation is about to get worse and collapse soon after. The Spaniard is very nervous, gets lost and hits a powerful blow. The audience applauds, mocks, and highlights the mistake. He reacts by tearing up and making an umbrella gesture. Decline is imminent.
Things are flying from the center stands. 100 liras and even a can of coca (empty). Higueras realizes he has added fuel to the fire and tells them to stop. imagine. Mass rave is just around the corner. The audience starts shouting at him stupid! stupid!. The chair umpire, Bertie Boron, defends him in hideous ways, giving a terrifying response Shut up, you idiots! To the Italian fans, who became even angrier. Boron asks referee Sergio Barotti to redo a point because the Spaniard was distracted by bad weather from the crowd. In response, Barotti asks him to leave and replaces him with another judge, this time an Italian. The straw that broke Higueras: After losing 7-5, he decided to say goodbye to everyone, leave the field and abandon the match.
The player, who was contacted by the Spanish press in the dressing rooms, commented: “They looked like animals. You cannot play in Roma.”
In the final Panatta would lose after a close match to Borg. The scenario is almost the same, but the Swede really shows his temper as ice.
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