Photo by: Kevin Snyder/MSU Athletics
The Talented Mr. Tortora
April 18, 2022 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE – Many tennis players only dream of one day competing at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and Roland-Garros.
Mississippi State junior Davide Tortora has already played at all three as a member of the Italian Junior Davis Cup team in 2018. Of those bucket list venues, Wimbledon was Tortora's favorite.
"The experience was great, my best experience by far," Tortora said. "I got to see all the great pros. The grass courts were unbelievable and I got to practice close to (Roger) Federer, (Rafael) Nadal and (Novak) Djokovic and that was insane. The courts were so green. It was just an unbelievable and unforgettable experience. It was definitely the Grand Slam that I liked the most by far."
Tortora competed in both singles and doubles during the Junior Championships at Wimbledon. He did have to adjust to the grass court surface there, just as he'd done during the Junior International tournament in Roehampton the week prior.
"When you play there, it's much different than other surfaces," Tortora said. "You have to go to the net way more often because the ball is going faster and isn't bouncing much."
It was in Roehampton and Wimbledon that Tortora was able to meet MSU head coach Matt Roberts in person for the first time. Roberts was already coaching Giovanni Oradini at the time, someone Tortora has known since he was 8 or 9-years-old, played club matches with and lived only 40 minutes away from Tortora's hometown of Verona.
"Once I figured out Giovanni Oradini was here, I talked to him about how his American university experience was and got very excited about it," Tortora said. "When I was playing in the U.S. Open, I finally decided after my family talked to Matt. We all decided together that it was a great opportunity."
A TASTE OF THE STATES
Tortora arrived in Starkville in the fall of 2019 and it was Oradini who aided him in getting acclimated to America.
"It was much different, but I got help from Giovanni," Tortora said. "He was still here and pretty much taught me how things were."
Part of that transition was getting used to the food in the Southern United States. The two Italians tried their best to recreate the cuisine they had both grown accustomed to back home. Â
"I was shocked by the food," Tortora said. "It's much different than it is in Italy. There's not the same variety of food but Gio and I cooked together. We figured out ways to make this place a little more like Italy. It's not the same, but it's fun.
"We would go to the supermarket and Wal-Mart buying ingredients to make it look like Italian. It wasn't really Italian, but at least we were eating pasta and the main dishes of Italy. Now I have Alessia Tagliente on the women's team and we will cook together sometimes. We're bringing the culture of Italy here and have a fun time."
Cooking is one of Tortora's favorite hobbies along with running and reading. He even made his best attempt at making authentic Italian pizza (with American ingredients) for the men's tennis team during a meal at Roberts' house back during the fall.
"Cooking is something that I really enjoy," Tortora said. "It brings peace to me. It helps me slow down and is enjoyable to me."
Tortora has even made some of his Americanized pasta dishes for his family back home in Italy, albeit with mixed reviews. Â
"We don't really have mac and cheese or chicken alfredo and those kinds of pasta there," Tortora said. "But I have a chicken alfredo recipe that I took back home. My parents tried it and didn't like it, but I did. It was fun to be able to bring that back to Italy."
CONSISTENT SUCCESS
Tortora has been able to maintain a level of consistency on the court throughout his time at Mississippi State. He has been ranked in singles all three years of his career while also earning a doubles ranking in two of those seasons.
Tortora has a 42-30 career record in singles and been ranked as highly as 49th nationally. He also owns 33 doubles victories as well and received a career-best ranking of 30th earlier this season. Â
"He's one of the most gifted and talented with his shots – volleys, serves and groundstrokes," Roberts said. "He's so fun to watch and is so fit. His body is like a cat. He can just run forever and doesn't get tired. He's so springy and I hope he can continue making a run here to help us."
This season, Tortora and then-partner Nemanja Malesevic compiled an 11-4 doubles record together and climbed as high as No. 30 in the ITA rankings. He has since switched partners to Alberto Colas in an effort to get the Bulldogs off to a better start in doubles.
"Memo and I have played really good doubles together," Tortora said. "But unfortunately when we were playing good, our third doubles was not doing good so we had to figure a way to cope with that so we switched. Now I'm playing with Alberto. He's my best friend so I'm happy to play with him. We just had to figure out the lineup and are doing really well."
On the singles side of things, Tortora is starting to heat up as well. He has won three of his last four matches, including back-to-back wins this past weekend against Vanderbilt's Jeremie Casabon and Kentucky's JJ Mercer.
"He's had to step up recently and really been playing some good tennis," Roberts said. "He's competing and showing the guys that he's going to hang around. He won his match against Ole Miss pretty easily and that was great for his confidence."
Tortora is proud of his journey in Maroon and White. He believes his experiences at State have allowed him to grow on and off the court and built lasting friendships with his teammates during his time in Starkville.
"There have been good moments and tough moments but that is all part of everybody's growth," Tortora said. "Every experience – good or bad – is important to improve as a person and as a tennis player. I think this was a very positive experience and was worth it. Looking back, I'd make this decision 100 times. I don't regret any of this experience. I developed a lot of friendships with the guys on the team and those will always be there in the future too."
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Mississippi State junior Davide Tortora has already played at all three as a member of the Italian Junior Davis Cup team in 2018. Of those bucket list venues, Wimbledon was Tortora's favorite.
"The experience was great, my best experience by far," Tortora said. "I got to see all the great pros. The grass courts were unbelievable and I got to practice close to (Roger) Federer, (Rafael) Nadal and (Novak) Djokovic and that was insane. The courts were so green. It was just an unbelievable and unforgettable experience. It was definitely the Grand Slam that I liked the most by far."
Tortora competed in both singles and doubles during the Junior Championships at Wimbledon. He did have to adjust to the grass court surface there, just as he'd done during the Junior International tournament in Roehampton the week prior.
"When you play there, it's much different than other surfaces," Tortora said. "You have to go to the net way more often because the ball is going faster and isn't bouncing much."
It was in Roehampton and Wimbledon that Tortora was able to meet MSU head coach Matt Roberts in person for the first time. Roberts was already coaching Giovanni Oradini at the time, someone Tortora has known since he was 8 or 9-years-old, played club matches with and lived only 40 minutes away from Tortora's hometown of Verona.
"Once I figured out Giovanni Oradini was here, I talked to him about how his American university experience was and got very excited about it," Tortora said. "When I was playing in the U.S. Open, I finally decided after my family talked to Matt. We all decided together that it was a great opportunity."
A TASTE OF THE STATES
Tortora arrived in Starkville in the fall of 2019 and it was Oradini who aided him in getting acclimated to America.
"It was much different, but I got help from Giovanni," Tortora said. "He was still here and pretty much taught me how things were."
Part of that transition was getting used to the food in the Southern United States. The two Italians tried their best to recreate the cuisine they had both grown accustomed to back home. Â
"I was shocked by the food," Tortora said. "It's much different than it is in Italy. There's not the same variety of food but Gio and I cooked together. We figured out ways to make this place a little more like Italy. It's not the same, but it's fun.
"We would go to the supermarket and Wal-Mart buying ingredients to make it look like Italian. It wasn't really Italian, but at least we were eating pasta and the main dishes of Italy. Now I have Alessia Tagliente on the women's team and we will cook together sometimes. We're bringing the culture of Italy here and have a fun time."
Cooking is one of Tortora's favorite hobbies along with running and reading. He even made his best attempt at making authentic Italian pizza (with American ingredients) for the men's tennis team during a meal at Roberts' house back during the fall.
"Cooking is something that I really enjoy," Tortora said. "It brings peace to me. It helps me slow down and is enjoyable to me."
Tortora has even made some of his Americanized pasta dishes for his family back home in Italy, albeit with mixed reviews. Â
"We don't really have mac and cheese or chicken alfredo and those kinds of pasta there," Tortora said. "But I have a chicken alfredo recipe that I took back home. My parents tried it and didn't like it, but I did. It was fun to be able to bring that back to Italy."
CONSISTENT SUCCESS
Tortora has been able to maintain a level of consistency on the court throughout his time at Mississippi State. He has been ranked in singles all three years of his career while also earning a doubles ranking in two of those seasons.
Tortora has a 42-30 career record in singles and been ranked as highly as 49th nationally. He also owns 33 doubles victories as well and received a career-best ranking of 30th earlier this season. Â
"He's one of the most gifted and talented with his shots – volleys, serves and groundstrokes," Roberts said. "He's so fun to watch and is so fit. His body is like a cat. He can just run forever and doesn't get tired. He's so springy and I hope he can continue making a run here to help us."
This season, Tortora and then-partner Nemanja Malesevic compiled an 11-4 doubles record together and climbed as high as No. 30 in the ITA rankings. He has since switched partners to Alberto Colas in an effort to get the Bulldogs off to a better start in doubles.
"Memo and I have played really good doubles together," Tortora said. "But unfortunately when we were playing good, our third doubles was not doing good so we had to figure a way to cope with that so we switched. Now I'm playing with Alberto. He's my best friend so I'm happy to play with him. We just had to figure out the lineup and are doing really well."
On the singles side of things, Tortora is starting to heat up as well. He has won three of his last four matches, including back-to-back wins this past weekend against Vanderbilt's Jeremie Casabon and Kentucky's JJ Mercer.
"He's had to step up recently and really been playing some good tennis," Roberts said. "He's competing and showing the guys that he's going to hang around. He won his match against Ole Miss pretty easily and that was great for his confidence."
Tortora is proud of his journey in Maroon and White. He believes his experiences at State have allowed him to grow on and off the court and built lasting friendships with his teammates during his time in Starkville.
"There have been good moments and tough moments but that is all part of everybody's growth," Tortora said. "Every experience – good or bad – is important to improve as a person and as a tennis player. I think this was a very positive experience and was worth it. Looking back, I'd make this decision 100 times. I don't regret any of this experience. I developed a lot of friendships with the guys on the team and those will always be there in the future too."
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