Italy is, of course, the birthplace of the Renaissance – the remarkable rebirth of European culture, thought, and creativity in the late Middle Ages. Now, more than half a millennium later, it may also be home to a less historic but still significant sporting movement, namely the Tennaissance – the remarkable rise of Italian tennis, especially on the men’s side of the sport.

Is Tennaissance a Misnomer?
Now, before any art historians or cultural scholars, especially from Italy, rush to correct me, I will acknowledge that the term “Tennaissance” is something of a misnomer. “Renaissance” is actually a French word meaning “rebirth,” referring to the fact that Italian civilization and then wider European civilization was reborn or revived largely because of the rediscovery of Classical (Ancient Greek and Roman) books and artworks, many of which had only been preserved during Europe’s long dark ages by Arabic scholars and libraries.