Fausto Gardini (8 March 1930 – 17 September 2008) was an Italian

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. He was an Italian Davis Cup player and later captain. Gardini had long arms and legs, was renowned for keeping the ball in play and was very determined. "I could not help but admire Gardini because he always tried" said

Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...

. This is how William McHale described Gardini "A stringy, expressive, cavorting clown, Gardini uses the crowd as his personal cheering section". Gardini made his Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros in 1949, where he lost in round three to

Eric Sturgess Eric William Sturgess (10 May 1920 – 14 January 2004) was a South African male tennis player and winner of six Grand Slam doubles titles. He also reached the singles final of a Grand Slam tournament three times but never won. Sturgess was ra ...

. At Roland Garros in 1951, Gardini lost in the last 16 to

Dick Savitt Richard Savitt (March 4, 1927 – January 6, 2023) was an American tennis player. In 1951, at the age of 24, he won both the Australian and Wimbledon men's singles championships. Savitt was mostly ranked world No. 2 the same year behind fellow ...

. At Wimbledon Gardini beat

Gardnar Mulloy Gardnar Putnam "Gar" Mulloy (November 22, 1913 – November 14, 2016) was a U.S. No. 1 tennis player primarily known for playing in doubles matches with partner Billy Talbert. He was born in Washington, D.C. and turned 100 in November 2013. Du ...

before losing to

Frank Sedgman Francis "Frank" Arthur Sedgman (born 29 October 1927) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Over the course of a three-decade career, Sedgman won five Grand Slam singles tournaments as an amateur as well as 22 Grand Slam doubles ...

in the last 16. At Roland Garros in 1952, Gardini beat 17 year old Ken Rosewall and

Tony Mottram Anthony John Mottram (8 June 1920 – 6 October 2016) was a British tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s. Mottram reached the quarterfinal of the 1948 Wimbledon Championships in which he lost to Gardnar Mulloy. In the doubles event he reac ...

before losing to

Jaroslav Drobny Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that originally the two elements of the nam ...

in the last 16. At Wimbledon he lost to Straight Clark in round three. At the 1953 Australian championships, Gardini lost in round two to

Ian Ayre Ian Ayre is the CEO of Nashville SC of Major League Soccer and a former chief executive officer and main board director of Premier League club Liverpool. Career Leaving school at age 16, he joined the Royal Navy. After leaving the senior servi ...

. At Roland Garros, Gardini reached the quarter finals before losing to Drobny. At Wimbledon he lost in round one to Istvan Sikorski. The highlight of Gardini's career was when he won the title at Rome in 1955, beating

Herbert Flam Herbert Flam (November 7, 1928 – November 25, 1980) was an American tennis player who in 1957 was ranked by Lance Tingay as the World No. 4 amateur (and World No. 5 by Adrian Quist).

Enrique Morea Enrique Jorge Morea (11 April 1924 – 15 March 2017) was an Argentine tennis player. Morea reached the singles semifinals of the French Championships in 1953, beating Mervyn Rose and Gardnar Mulloy and then losing to Ken Rosewall. At the F ...

and

Giuseppe Merlo Giuseppe "Beppe" Merlo (11 October 1927 – 17 July 2019) was an Italian tennis player. Merlo reached the semifinals of French Championships in 1955 (losing to Sven Davidson) and 1956 (losing to Lew Hoad). In the final of Rome in 1955, Merlo ...

. In the final Merlo led by two sets to one and had two championship points in the fourth set, but suffered from cramps and was forced to retire at 6–6 in the fourth set. After that, Gardini played less and concentrated on running his family's bakery business. By the early 1960s he was playing mainly in Italian tournaments and Davis Cup.

References

1930 births 2008 deaths Italian male tennis players Tennis players from Milan {{Italy-tennis-bio-stub