Panatta, McEnroe, Borg at dinner in Paris between laughter and memories of tennis – Corriere.it

PARIS Adriano Panatta, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe at Le Fouquet’s, 99 avenue des Champs-Elysées, in Paris. The photos go crazy on social networks, the video of those three phenomena laughing like kids has gone viral. But what were you talking about, Adriano? «But nothing, it’s our way of having fun even after so many years. John and I team up, put Bjorn in the middle and make fun of him. Of course you were really bad at playing tennis, compared to us, we make fun of him. And he’s very serious: but I’ve worked hard, and I’ve won more Grand Slams than you! So in the end it’s him, Bjorn, who gives us back the tease “.

At dinner during Roland Garros the other night, 19 Major titles sat at the same table. The 11 of the Swedish bear, 67 years old (6 in Paris), the 7 of the eternal super-brat, 64 years old (very painful final on the left bank in 1984, defeated by Lendl: a kappaò who still won’t let Mac sleep a wink), one of the unforgettable Panatta, 72 years carried with the agility of the past, in that year of grace (1976) in which he Rome and the Davis Cup are also in his pocket, a season that marks a milestone for Italian sport.

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To succeed in the enterprise of reuniting the three great exes, Mansour Bahrami, the former tennis player Iranian who escaped the Islamic revolution in France, juggler and master of ceremonies on the circuit, organizer of the tournament of legends for Roland Garros. Collective dinner, with the wives (Adriano is in Paris with Anna), eating and drinking well: «Let’s just say we were… happy! In the video I have a Coca Cola in front of me – laughs Panatta -. I want to clarify: I have the habit of smoking, I’m not a big drinker but I can swear on the bible that I don’t drink Coca Cola».

Very pleasant evening, returning to Paris brings back sweet memories in everyone, Adriano has a trolley full of anecdotes (one above all: «Before the 1976 final with Solomon I go into the locker room and I can’t find my shoes. Mabruk, I yell at the historic employee, very good friend of us players, mes chaussures! I had left them, as usual, on top of the locker. A little investigation and I discover that Paolo Bertolucci brought them to Italy by mistake, returning after the defeat in doubles. Well, in short, I mobilize the world and the shoes arrive a minute before taking the field thanks to an Alitalia pilot who is leaving for Charles de Gaulle, to whom they are delivered in a hurry at Fiumicino…”), we see that he is happy to be returned to the scene of the crime.

And how did Adriano’s evening go on? «At one point Mac started playing the guitar. Unfortunately. So that’s where the dancing began.” And the man does not dance (theory expressed by Panatta in an interview for the Courier for two voices with his wife). Did you break the rule? “Never”. Anna intervenes: «Actually, he made a little move. Zanzan with the pelvis. I have it on a video but if I put it on social media it yells at me…». Secret, as it should be. One last curiosity: why are Borg and McEnroe white-haired and you aren’t, Adriano? “I swear I don’t dye myself! They are white because they are old.” And down other, sacrosanct, laughter.