Luciano Darderi sparked a wave of backlash during his pre-match walkout for his Italian Open semifinal against Casper Ruud on Friday. The Italian made a faux pas as he walked past the mascot who was assigned to accompany him onto the court. Now, Darderi has apologized for the matter.
Luciano Darderi Apologizes After Backlash Over Ignoring Child Mascot
The awkward moment happened when Darderi arrived for his semifinal wearing Emporio Armani sunglasses and strode past the child mascot who was supposed to walk onto the court alongside him. Many tennis fans and analysts criticized the 24-year-old for seemingly ignoring the mascot and called him out on social media.
Darderi has now apologized to the mascot, saying pre-match nerves were the reason for the error.
“I’m truly sorry for not shaking Camilla’s hand: it was an unintentional gesture that happened during a moment of great focus and tension on a big stage. Those who truly know me know how much I always value my personal connection with my fans and my respect for everyone involved in this sport,” he wrote on his Instagram story on Saturday.
Darderi had a day to forget in the semifinals as he suffered a 6-1, 6-1 loss against Ruud in a rain-interrupted match that lasted a little over an hour. Still, it was a memorable two weeks for the Italian, who made it to this stage of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament for the first time in his career.
Regarded as a clay-court specialist, Darderi rode the wave of passionate Italian support in Rome and went on an incredible run. He came from behind to defeat Tommy Paul in the third round and followed that up by saving four match points and sending Alexander Zverev packing.
In the quarterfinals, Darderi ended the run of the in-form Rafael Jódar in another dramatic match.
The impressive run in Rome is set to give Darderi a huge rankings boost ahead of the French Open. He is set to jump four places and become world No. 16 when the rankings are updated on Monday. This will be a career-best ranking for Darderi, who has won one title this season (Santiago).
Darderi will now shift his focus to the Hamburg Open, where he is expected to be one of the top seeds in contention. After that, he will look to make a deep run at the French Open.
