Luca Bottazzi (born 1 April 1963) is a former professional

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 from Italy.

Career

Bottazzi was twice a quarter-finalist in the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

boys' singles during his junior career, in both 1980 and 1981. He reached the round of 16 in the US Open boys' singles in 1980Misspelled ITF Junior Profile
/ref> and in the

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

boys' singles in 1981. When he returned to the

in 1982, it was in the men's draw, beside

Raúl Viver Raúl Antonio Viver (born 17 March 1961) is a former professional tennis player from Ecuador. Career Viver was the world number one ranked junior player in 1979, the year that he won the Orange Bowl (18s & Under). He also reached his only semi-fi ...

in the doubles competition.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> They defeated the Swedish combination of

Anders Järryd Anders Per Järryd (; born 13 July 1961) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. During his career he won eight Grand Slam doubles titles (three French Open, two Wimbledon, two US Open, one Australian Open), reached the world No ...

and

Hans Simonsson Hans Simonsson (born 1 May 1962) is a retired professional tennis player from Sweden. Primarily a doubles specialist, he won 11 ATP Tour titles in his career. He won the French Open doubles title in 1983 with his countryman Anders Järryd. He a ...

in the first round but were then beaten by

Brad Guan Brad Guan (born 10 July 1958) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Grand Slam career Guan made his first appearance in the main singles draw of a Grand Slam at the 1981 Australian Open, where he lost in the opening round to ...

and

Derek Tarr Derek John Tarr (born September 15, 1959) is a former American professional tennis player, originally from South Africa. Career While at Auburn University, Tarr played tennis in the Southeastern Conference and was the singles champion in 1981. I ...

. In 1984, he made the quarter-finals of the Palermo Grand Prix tournament, with wins over the world's 50th ranked player

Blaine Willenborg Blaine Willenborg (born January 4, 1960) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Willenborg enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career he won 7 doubles titles and finished runner-up an add ...

and Argentina's

Alejandro Ganzábal Alejandro Román Ganzábal (born 16 February 1960) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Career Ganzabal made his Grand Slam debut in the 1981 French Open and managed to reach the third round, beating former finalist Manuel Oran ...

. The Italian was beaten by

Marko Ostoja Marko Ostoja (born 20 October 1960) is a former professional tennis player from Croatia who competed for Yugoslavia. Career Ostoja was the Yugoslavian National Champion in 1978, having earlier won the event as a junior, in the 14s, 16 and 18s age ...

in the opening round of the

1985 French Open The 1985 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 27 May until 9 June. It was the 89th staging of the French Open, and the first Grand ...

. After his tennis career, Bottazzi co-founded the Italian Tennis Research Association (RITA). He developed new scientific methods to teach tennis to young pupils, that were presented at the ITF Tennis Science and Technology Congress in 2003. Bottazzi currently works as a tennis coach and television commentator for

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

and

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo and Sky TG24. As of 2018, following an agree ...

Challenger titles

Singles: (2)

Doubles: (1)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bottazzi, Luca 1963 births Living people Tennis players from Milan Italian male tennis players Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Italy Competitors at the 1983 Mediterranean Games 20th-century Italian people 21st-century Italian people