• Scritto da Marco
• 06.01.2013  22:46.52

The AGB Oscar Awards for 2012: Calbucci and Briganti Reign Supreme

The votes are in for the 2012 Beach Tennis Oscars, an AGB (Beach Tennis Players Association) initiative which has reached its third year.

First of all I would like to thank the members of the jury who cast their vote and undertook the task with such respect and seriousness. Thanks also to the many people who expressed their valued opinions, as well as criticism, regarding the composition of the jury, the voting method and, above all, the choice of the nominees. I will of course bear all comments in mind for future editions of this initiative.

37 jurors out of the 38 appointed voted. Some of them didn’t complete the whole “podium”, just voting instead for the top player in each category, while a few abstained from voting in number of categories for various reasons. In addition one juror bizarrely decided to vote only for the best tournament and abstained in all other categories.

The juries were composed as follows:

• “Men’s” jury (the top 15 seeds according to the ranking table available as of December on the ITF website, simple vote): Calbucci, Garavini, Tazzari, Cappelletti, Carli, Meliconi, Mingozzi, Cramarossa, Tronci, Font (BRA), Marighella, Prata (BRA), Petrucci, Strano, Santos (BRA), Ferreira (BRA)
• “Women’s” jury (the top 10 seeds in the ranking table, simple vote): Briganti, Olivieri, Bonadonna, Cortez (BRA), Bacchetta, Spazzoli, Barijan (BRA), D’Elia, Cimatti, Takahashi (JPN).
• “Technical” jury (12 members with a double vote): the members of the committee behind the idea for the Oscars – Buccelli, Calbucci, S.Cappelletti, Bonadonna, Ortolani – the Italian Team Coach, Lucaroni, the representatives of specialist websites – wikibeach, beachtennistime, smashonthebeach, beachtennisplayers – the representatives of the national Beach Tennis movement in Brazil (Lopes) and in Aruba (Ros).

Two initial remarks:

1. beach tennis is still without significant TV and journalistic coverage. Even very specialist websites often struggle to provide suitable information regarding events. It is therefore understandable that journalists and beach tennis experts are not always accurate with regard to names, even those of top players, facts, events and sometimes note-worthy results, especially if the news arrives from abroad. For this reason we apologise to those who have been unjustly neglected or underestimated. However, we trust that any real talent which escaped us this year will no doubt be back among the nominees for 2013.
2. the concept of “the best” is naturally extremely debatable and controversial. This referendum was designed merely as an entertaining excuse to look back on the year and applaud the players and events which we enjoyed so much in 2012. Everyone’s criteria for “the best” is different: for some people it is based on the results of the most important tournaments, for others on ranking, for others on personal opinion, some people award commitment, class, showmanship, super performances, game improvement, career, personality, charisma, popularity, etc. All evaluations which are worthy of respect precisely because, and I repeat, it is meant in the spirit of entertainment.

A small event to celebrate the winners of the Oscars will be held at the next big tournament.

After so much talk here are the results you have been waiting for:

The struggle for the title of “Best Player” was an extremely well-balanced and thrilling match. It was a duel between the winners of the title in 2010 (Garavini) and in 2011 (Calbucci)

Alessandro Calbucci made it by a whisker, just as he did last year in the battle against his ex doubles’ partner Meliconi. Just three points gave him the advantage over Garavini 101 to 98, (last year just two points separated him from “Melico”), awarded above all by the male jurors, while the ladies gave their vote to Garavini and the ‘technical’ verdict was basically even.

Thus Calbucci crowns yet another magical season, highlighted by the Italian title, by the World Championship final (defeated by the very same Garavini and Tazzari) and by his victory in Aruba. However, he was also recognised for his active contribution as promoter and ambassador for beach tennis, his work in clinics set up specially to develop the sport in emerging countries, as a refined, multilingual communicator and even cover-boy. These are all factors which – obviously combined with the continuity of his results, his all-round technical baggage and numerous victories in every corner of the world – earned him his votes and probably made the difference in this referendum

Garavini has to ‘make do’ with second place but that shouldn’t overshadow his super season, culminating in the world champion title (with the faithful Tazzari at Bourgas), the third consecutive final at the Delfino tournament and his success in Aruba.

The other contenders were way behind: the co-world champion, Paolo Tazzari, concluded the last competitive season of his magnificent career in third place.

Results: Calbucci 101, Garavini 98, Tazzari 22, Cappelletti 14, Meliconi 11, Carli 9, Marighella 8, Strano 1.

Golden List: 2010 Garavini; 2011 and 2012 Calbucci.

The Oscar for the Best Female Player goes to the girl from Taranto, Simona Briganti. This individual success for “Pollon” crowns a memorable season for “Olibrì”, which, together with Laura Olivieri, saw her win, among others, the world championship and the “Delfino” title. It was a unanimous verdict with all three juries in agreement. Second place goes to Olivieri from Rome and third to Federica Bacchetta.

Results: Briganti 77, Olivieri 53, Bacchetta 36, D’Elia 28, Bonadonna 27, Carli 20, Spazzoli 16, Zanaboni 4.

Golden List: 2010 Bacchetta, 2011 Olivieri, 2012 Briganti.

In the Best Server category Michele Cappelletti, the youngest of the top players, bagged his second Oscar, awarded for his strength and continuity. His closest rival was his doubles’ partner Luca Carli, together forming an explosive team only to be faced when wearing a protective helmet!

Results:Cappelletti 79, Carli 56, Garavini 41, Calbucci 32, Petrucci 29, Maldini 15.

Golden List: 2010 Maldini, 2011 and 2012 Cappelletti.

The award for the Best Return is another success for Alessandro Calbucci, this time unchallenged. His reactivity, stroke-span and sheer physical ability make “Calbu” the best interpreter of the fundamentals of beach tennis, decisive for the outcome of any match. These essential skills also give him a clear psychological advantage over his opponents, even those renowned for their powerful service.

Results: Calbucci 97, Marighella 62, Tazzari 41, Meliconi 23, Strano 19, Rosatone 5.

Golden List: 2010 Marighella, 2011 and 2012 Calbucci.

Nothing new in the category for Best Attacker. For 3 years Marco Garavinihas dominated this prize thanks to his powerful arm, quick feet, surgical wrist and athletic ability even when he is six or seven metres from the net. One of his finest points played in Aruba (viewable on youtube) was judged the most spectacular of the year.

Last year the award-winner was decided on a photo-finish between Cappelletti and Meliconi, both getting more or less the same votes. This year “El Puma” was clearly ahead of his opponents.

Results: Garavini 120, Cappelletti 77, Carli 19, Meliconi 18, Avantaggiato 16, Petrucci 4.

Golden List: 2010, 2011 and 2012 Garavini

There was another “hat-trick” in the category for Best Defender, this time for Matteo Marighella. Despite a difficult year with few victories, Matteo played some magical beach tennis, thanks to his incredible reflexes and unparalleled intuition.

After him comes Luca Meliconi, who got the bulk of the votes from the “technical” jury, while players, both male and female, favoured the come-back of “Matrix”

Results: Marighella 73, Meliconi 56, Strano and Tazzari 22, Cramarossa 12, Calbucci 10.

Golden List: 2010, 2011 and 2012 Marighella

The Under20 category fades the smiles of those of us who play beach tennis to enjoy ourselves, spend time doing sport and maybe meet people with similar interests. This year our world no longer includes the young Federico Paris, a boy from Tuscany who was praised by so many people for his vitality and human qualities. He will remain for ever in our thoughts and in the relatively small world of this sport. Thiscategory is dedicated to him (reserved for the Under20s – in this case born after 01/01/1992).

It was considered only fair to exclude from the candidate list two players who clearly aspire to greater things. The two athletes are naturally Michele Cappelletti (winner in 2010 and 2011, a choice which cruelly denies him the chance of a hat-trick) and Luca Cramarossa, both of whom have now matured a professional approach to the sport and can no longer be considered “emerging” talent. We regard them as by far the “moral winners”.

Among the “others” it was neck and neck, but in the end Antomi Ramos, the Spaniard from the Canary Islands, came up trumps.

The popular Antomi, who trained for a long time in Italy, pipped Teo Casadei from Cesena to the post by just 5 points.

Results: Cappelletti and Cramarossa (over ranking), Ramos 59, Casadei 54, Foschi 31, Beccaccioli 28, Biondi 27, Amboni 21.

Golden List: 2010 Cappelletti, 2011 Cappelletti, 2012 (Cappelletti-Cramarossa) Ramos

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.Antomi Ramos, nell’immagine, sembra quasi voler dedicare la vittoria all’amico scomparso

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There was a fierce battle in the Over40 category: the 6 nominees (chosen painfully from among such worthy players as Ludovici and the two Bartolini) were divided by a mere 17 points. Marco Montanari, aka “The Jaguar” won by a whisker and thus crowns an impressive season during which he travelled considerably to vent his still burning passion for beach tennis. However, the runners-up all deserve a mention: the tennis coach from Pesaro Gentile (recently converted to beach tennis), the Sardinian globetrotter Tronci, the Roman Ercoli (penalised due to his notable absence outside Italy), Di Cori and Chirico from Ravenna, still going after having dominated the sport from the dawn of time.

Results: Montanari 47, Gentile 45, Tronci 40, Ercoli 38, Di Cori 31, Chirico 24.

Golden List: 2010 M.Bartolini, 2011 Ludovici, 2012 Montanari

Going back to the girls, Eva D’Elia, from Puglia, defends the title of Best Attacker and once again comes top of the category, although Federica Bacchetta is hot on her heels, beaten by just 7 points.

Results: D’Elia 59, Bacchetta 52, Curzi 34, Cimatti 31, Carli 25, Briganti 22.

Golden List: 2010 not awarded, 2011 and 2012 D’Elia.

Likewise, in the Best Defender category the 2011 winner is reappointed in 2012: the former volleyball player Giulia Spazzoli is recognised particularly for her tenacity and recovery skill on low balls. The other contenders were a long way behind.

Results: Spazzoli 98, Bonadonna 47, Olivieri 40, Zanaboni 17, Storari 11, Carien 8.

Golden List: 2010 not awarded, 2011 and 2012 Spazzoli.

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Among the juniors it was a battle between two athletes who are already well-known on the circuit: Arianna Carli, following in her brother’s footsteps, just got the better of last year’s winner Sofia Cimatti, with Daina from Rome in third place. We expect great things from all of them in 2013.

Results: Carli 71, Cimatti 68, Daina 41, Bellagamba 17, Nutini 1, Ponti.

Golden List: 2010 not awarded, 2011 Cimatti, 2012 Carli.

Let’s move on to the category dedicated to Foreigners. Here I have to stress that, as stated initially, the jury was composed of a majority of Italians and not all of them had the chance to travel and see for themselves the talent of the various athletes. It is therefore understandable that some opinions are based on “hearsay”. In addition some athletes don’t take part in many tournaments and don’t travel much so their true value (sometimes extremely high) remains relatively unknown on an international scale.

Among the Men the Brazilians stand out as the nation lost likely to challenge Italy for world domination in this sport. Brazil has an impressive sporting reputation and is showing great commitment to beach tennis with financial investment, schools, courts, tournaments and beaches dedicated to beach tennis.

The result is that the top Brazilian pair composed of Vinicius Font and Guillerme Prata establish themselves firmly in first and second place in our referendum and Brazil occupies three of the four top places. Vini comes first, followed by Gui, with Santos in fourth place (Ferreira was highly recommended but unfortunately was not included in our nominations). In the Brazilian battle let us not forget Patrice Bang, from Reunion, who had the best season in his now long career.

Young Ramos was also highly recommended and some jurors already consider him capable of challenging other talented foreigners to the top positions.

Results: Font (BRA) 84, Prata (BRA) 65, Bang (REU) 37, Santos (BRA) 31, Yamamoto (JPN) 11, Herve (REU) 3, Gaudez (VEN) 2, Nanava (RUS) 1.

Golden List: 2010 Clavery (REU), 2011 and 2012 Font

In the Women’s category it was another victory for continuity. The left-handed tennis player Joana Cortez came top again, despite the fact that the season saw numerous talented new entries. The Brazilian (who quite rightly reminded us to include in the nominations her doubles’ partner Samanta Barijan and her sister Paula) triumphed over her fellow countrywoman and rival Flavia Muniz.

Results: Cortez (BRA) 97, Muniz (BRA) 49, Bourdet (REU) 31, Rosolska (POL) 24, Labrit (SXM) 19, Melch (USA) 17, Takahashi (JPN) 9, Sitya (SPA) 1.

Golden List: 2010, 2011 and 2012 Cortez.

And we conclude by awarding the Oscar for Best Tournament. Again I have to stress that the juries were unable to see for themselves (if only!) all the tournaments that were played and many jurors therefore based their opinions on hearsay.

After 2 consecutive years at the top and in spite of a splendid 2012 edition the “Città di Cervia”, concedes poll position to Aruba, albeit by a whisker. This year the tournament was held at the wonderful Eagle Beach and many aspects were probably inspired by the example of the renowned Cervia tournament (such as the number of courts, over 25, the duration of the event, the total dedication of the location to the tournament). Jochem Ros, Sjoerd De Vries and the other collaborators should be proud of the result since it was not just the island’s charm but also the high standard of organisation which attracted players from all over the world. However, we are sure that the runners-up will turn this minor defeat into a challenge to ensure that, despite growing difficulties, Bagno Delfino and the “angeli bianchi” will give us an even more lavish edition in 2013.

The remaining votes were distributed among the various locations nominated and particular recommendations for the quality of the organisation went to the events held in Royan (Atlantic France) and Stuttgart.

There was no acclaim for the World Championship in Bourgas, where the organisation was good but unfortunately there was no public. We hope this will be a reminder for the ITF that in the future such important events should be held in locations where beach tennis is already popular in order to attract supporters and promote the best image of the sport.

Results: Aruba 91, Delfino Cervia (ITA) 89, Gandoli (ITA) 17, Reunion 13, Viareggio (ITA)12, Hermosa Beach (CAL USA) 9.

Golden List: 2010 and 2011 Delfino Cervia, 2012 Aruba

THE AGB REPRESENTATIVE IN CHARGE OF “THE BEACH TENNIS OSCARS”

Marco Ortolani   marco@ortoline.it