Resurfaced: Kyrgios, Totti Star In Rome Charity Match
Resurfaced: Kyrgios, Totti Star In Rome Charity Match
Tennis and football stars come together at Foro Italico
Editor’s Note: ATPTour.com is resurfacing features to bring fans closer to their favourite players during the current suspension in tournament play. This story was originally published on 10 May 2016.
It was a star-studded affair on Monday night at the Foro Italico as Next Generation player Nick Kyrgios joined Italians Fabio Fognini, Andreas Seppi, Paolo Lorenzi, Marco Cecchinato, Filippo Volandri, Roberta Vinci, Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone in the Tennis With Stars charity event on Pietrangeli court.
The tennis stars were paired with football players from AS Roma in a tie-break tournament to raise money for the Roma Cares Foundation, which benefits the Sant’Eugidio community.
Having won his first round at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia earlier in the day, Kyrgios teamed with AS Roma superstar Francesco Totti to reach the semi-finals of the charity event.
“It was unbelievable,” said Kyrgios, who wore Totti’s shirt for practice the following day. “Totti is obviously a god in Italy and a god in football, so it was a pleasure to play some points with him. It was a lot of fun.”
.@NickKyrgios is training with #Totti‘s shirt! The surprises never end here at #ibi16! #tennis #ATP @OfficialASRoma pic.twitter.com/4rDU2rI3oO
— Internazionali Bnl (@InteBNLdItalia) May 10, 2016
The winning team was Fognini, who had just suffered a disappointing first-round loss before the start of the charity match, and Alessandro Florenzi. “At least I won something today and it was for a good cause,” said Italian No. 1 Fognini.