LONDON -- Coverage of Wimbledon concludes with a blizzard of numbers which often offer a comprehensive overview of the tournament. Serbian Novak Djokovic, at the age of 37, has won a record 24 Grand Slam titles, which ties him with Margaret Court of Australia who played mostly in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Today he pursued his 25th title and his 8th at Wimbledon. But Djokovic is 16 years older than his opponent, Carlos Alcaraz, who was trying to win his fourth Grand Slam title by the age of 21 and join a short list of champions, Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker and Mats Wilander.
Lyndsay Weatherall
ROME -- Italian politicians, notably President Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, have condemned the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Former US president Trump was delivering a speech at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday evening when shots were fired at the stage. Secret Service agents rushed Trump off stage; he could be seen with his ear covered in blood. In a statement later released by Trump, he explained that the bullet “pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
14 Jul 2024
Michael Mewshaw
LONDON -- Rock star Antonello Venditi said it best after Italy lost an important football match. The measure of humans is best demonstrated by their behaviour in defeat. The marvellous, diminutive Jasmine Paolini lost the Wimbledon final in three sets 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to Czech Barbora Krejcikova, but in many ways she came out a winner and left an indelible impression on the crowd at Centre Court and TV viewers around the world. In her post-match on-court interview, she smiled brilliantly and made her fans feel a bit better even though they, like Jasmine, must have felt miserable.
14 Jul 2024
Michael Mewshaw
LONDON -- In Italy where time is reckoned in eons and ages rather than mere centuries, it’s unusual that anything happens that hasn’t happened before. But this year’s Wimbledon has been unprecedented for Italians in numerous ways. Jasmine Paolini has taken SW19 by pure force of personality, just as she stormed into the finals at the French Open with her irrepressible smile and indefatigable energy. In an era when top female tennis players are of Amazonian stature, Paolini is 5’4” and often gives the impression of being a bumblebee buzzing amid hollyhocks.
13 Jul 2024
Lyndsay Weatherall
ROME -- Giacomo Bozzoli, a fugitive from Brescia, has been arrested for the murder of his uncle, who he pushed into a vat of molten metal in their family’s foundry, the Carabinieri have said.
On Thursday afternoon, Bozzoli was arrested by the Carabinieri in his home in Brescia, after ten days on the run when the Court of Appeal sentenced him to life imprisonment on July 1. The Carabinieri had noticed suspicious movements within his Soiano house, which had also been bugged.
12 Jul 2024
KATARINA HARRISON-GAZE
ROME – Italian tennis player, Jasmine Paolini, made history as she became the first Italian woman to reach the Wimbledon finals.
The tennis star from Tuscany beat Donna Vekic after winning 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8). The match broke the record for the longest Wimbledon women’s semi-final with a play time of two hours and fifty minutes.
Paolini, 28, had never won a match at Wimbledon before this year’s tournament, however her rise has been meteoric. Earlier this year she won the WTA 1000 singles title in Dubai.
12 Jul 2024
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME – Members of the InterNations high-end social club for expats Iiving and working abroad have expressed concern that too many predatory Italian males attending the social network’s events in Italy are treating its gatherings ‘like a brothel’ where they can hit on foreign women, expats say.
One member who said she had appreciated the InterNations formula for bringing together single foreign professionals in other countries where she was based previously said that she was shocked by the set-up at a recent Rome event in a posh hotel.
11 Jul 2024
Lyndsay Weatherall
ROME -- Luigi Giacomo Passeri, a 31 year old from Pescara, currently imprisoned in Egypt is being “tortured” according to his family.
For almost a year, Passeri, who had been living in London, has been incarcerated in an Egyptian prison. Egyptian authorities accused the Italian of possession and trafficking of narcotics and for participation in a drug dealing network which sells to the local market. In reality, Passeri’s family claim he was charged with possession of a small quantity of marijuana, intended for personal use only.
11 Jul 2024
Michael Mewshaw
LONDON -- A day after yesterday’s bleak weather at Wimbledon looked like the end of the world, the sun came out. A day after Italian number one Jannik Sinner succumbed to Daniil Medvedev, Italy unexpectedly had reasons to cheer. The fragrantly named Jasmine Paolini, a virtual unknown earlier this spring, suddenly seems likely to reach the final at Wimbledon just as she reached the final at the French Open. Now ranked number seven in the world, she is scheduled to confront Donna Vekic in the semifinals.
11 Jul 2024