Many professional tennis players never win an ATP or WTA title in their careers. Darderi won two in six days, as after Bastad, Luciano Darderi also took the spoils in Umag. A significant achievement. Due to rain, the match started later than planned. During the match, rain also caused interruptions, and the match had to be paused. As far as Luciano Darderi was concerned, the game simply continued, but his opponent, the Spaniard Carlos Taberner, and the officials thought differently. Rain or no rain, Darderi proved to be the best. With two sets of 6-3, the victory went to the Italian.
After Darderi had converted the match point, he fell to the ground. Many tournament winners fall to the ground, so at first, everyone thought it was part of celebrating the victory, but Darderi, as can also be seen in the photos, had a face contorted with pain and signaled that he needed help to get up. During the match, Darderi and Taberner faced each other like roosters, but it was Taberner who seemed to be the first to realize what was going on and he rushed to help his opponent and assisted him to his bench. There, his ankle was treated, after which the award ceremony could fortunately take place. Darderi lives not far from Umag, and as usual, many Italian fans had come to Croatia. Darderi took all the time to exuberantly celebrate his victory with them, involving his family, especially his father Darderi, who is also his coach.
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