Massimo Di Domenico

Massimo Di Domenico came into the world of tennis by chance. As a 14-year-old he was sent to the Belle Arti tennis club in Roma to do some plumbing work, and playing there at the time was Prince Orsini, who invited Di Domenico to act as a ball-boy. He went from ball-boy to becoming a good standard player and, despite being mentored by sports doctor Antonio Dal Monte, Di Domenico learned most of his tennis by watching Nicola Pietrangeli playing in local clubs. In 1965, Di Domenico won the third category championship and, at the age of 21, went to the federal technical centre at Formia.

At the last amateur edition of the Internazionali d’Italia in 1968, Di Domenico achieved his best-ever performance, reaching the last 16, where he was beaten by the American Marty Riessen. At the Olympic Games in Mexico City that year, tennis was a demonstration sport and Di Domenico took part in all three events, losing in his first match on each occasion.

In the Open era, Di Domenico’s best result was in reaching the third round at Roland Garros in 1969, where he lost to Australian Roy Emerson in four sets. Di Domenico was a member of the Italian Davis Cup team where he had a 3-3 record. He competed twice in the doubles with Adriano Panatta, and they enjoyed a memorable win over the Czech pair of Jan Kodes and Jan Kukal.

After ending his career as a player in 1980, Di Domenico spent 17 years in charge of women’s tennis at the Latina technical centre, where he produced a generation of strong tennis players such as Rita Grande, Raffaella Reggi and Silvia Farina, amongst others.