SOKUSHINBUTSU PROJECT presents: PANATTA’S

Former tennis player Andriano Panatta put his signature on 1976, his golden year. But the toughest match was still to be played, and it wasn’t about just tennis. After defeating Australia in the Davis Cup semifinal, Italy advanced to the final against Chile. In order to win the trophy, the team would have to travel to Santiago de Chile, where Augusto Pinochet’s rightwing dictatorship had been holding power with an iron fist since a military coup in 1973, during which the socialist president Salvador Allende committed suicide.
In Italy, the secretaries of both the Communist and the Socialist parties declared that the national team should boycott the final, just as the Soviet team had done in the semifinal. Their opinions were echoed by the largest national newspapers.
In Rome, street walls were graffitied with insults directed at Pinochet, and even at Panatta, who was accused by some of agreeing to go to Chile just for the money. Eventually, the Italian Tennis Federation decided that the national team should go and play the final. Italy won the first two singles matches, with Panatta defeating Patricio Cornejo in straight sets.
In the dressing room, while getting changed before playing the doubles, Panatta persuaded his partner Paolo Bertolucci to join him in putting on a red Fila tennis shirt instead of the azure one traditionally worn by Italian players. “Red was the color of the handkerchiefs that Chilean women wore as they marched in protest for the desaparecidos: their brothers, sons, and husbands who had been abducted by the regime,” Panatta said. “The red shirt was a provocation, a way to show dissent for what had happened in the country.” And to publicly, although silently, stand behind the color of egalitarianism.
That day, Panatta and Bertolucci triumphed in four sets against their Chilean opponents. It was the first — and to this day only — Davis Cup win by Italy. As for the red shirts, the Chilean military authorities demanded an explanation from the Italian federation, who hadn’t been informed by the players and therefore had nothing to say.
Back in Italy, the victory contributed to an unprecedented uptick in enthusiasm for tennis. Thanks to Adriano Panatta and his mates, tennis in Italy finally ceased to be an activity enjoyed only by elites. It became, and remains, a sport for all: rich and poor, men and women, regardless of the color of their shirts.


All sounds in this track are produced by Sokushinbutsu Project with synths, samplers and audio/video materials:

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=560375250819414
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO5AsArXuG0&t=145s&ab_channel=TreccaniChannel
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii5ji51goQU&ab_channel=MassimilianoVannini
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D6VuWPHhtw&t=3866s&ab_channel=StoriaTv
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb_tE0MRyBM&t=1062s&ab_channel=AdrianoPanattaTennisChannel
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip572ZtLvDM&t=41s&ab_channel=ChileenCopaDavis%26FedCup


SOKUSHINBUTSU PROJECT (IT) :
www.facebook.com/SokushinbutsuProject
www.youtube.com/channel/UCq1eDZgBrdLvJVqHGDNLVkA