Gianluca Rinaldini
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Gianluca Rinaldini (born 10 August 1959) is a former professional
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player from
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.


Career

In 1981, Rinaldini appeared in the
French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
and
Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
but was beaten in the opening round at both events, by
Pavel Složil Pavel Složil (born 29 December 1955) is a former professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia. Složil enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won 32 doubles titles and finished runner-up an additiona ...
and
Tim Gullikson Timothy Ernest Gullikson (September 8, 1951 – May 3, 1996) was a tennis player and coach who was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin and grew up in Onalaska, Wisconsin in the United States. Gullikson was Pete Sampras' coach from 1992 to 1995. Tennis ...
respectively.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> Rinaldini had wins over
Alejandro Gattiker Alejandro Gattiker (born 5 May 1958) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Career Gattiker, having made it through qualifying, played Mike Myburg in the first round of the 1982 French Open. He was beaten in straight sets. The Ar ...
,
Georges Goven Georges Goven (born 26 April 1948) is a retired tennis player from France. Tennis career Juniors As a junior, he won the Australian Championships Boys' Singles title in 1964. Amateur / Pro tour Goven reached the semifinals in both singles and ...
and
Sergio Casal Sergio Casal Martínez (born 8 September 1962) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. During his career, he won three Grand Slam doubles titles, as well as the men's doubles silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Casal turned p ...
en route to the semi-finals of the 1982 Florence Open, where he was beaten by eventual champion
Vitas Gerulaitis Vytautas "Vitas" Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1978. Gerulaitis won the men's si ...
. The Italian played in both the men's singles and men's doubles draws at the
1983 French Open The 1983 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 23 May until 5 June. It was the 82nd staging of the French Open, and the first Grand Slam ...
. In the singles, he was defeated in the first round by Australian John Alexander and he was also unable to progress into the second round in the doubles, with partner
Claudio Panatta Claudio Panatta (born 2 February 1960) is an Italian former tennis player and younger brother of 1976 French Open champion Adriano Panatta. Panatta won 6 doubles titles and 1 singles title during his professional career. The right-hander reache ...
.


Accident

On 28 September 1985, Rinaldini was seriously injured in a car accident near his hometown of
Faenza Faenza (, ; ; or ; ) is an Italian city and comune of 59,063 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated southeast of Bologna. Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed earthenware pottery, known ...
, caused by an exploding tyre. His car crashed into a guardrail and he suffered a cracked vertebrae. The accident left him with
paralysis Paralysis (: paralyses; also known as plegia) is a loss of Motor skill, motor function in one or more Skeletal muscle, muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory d ...
and he has been using a wheelchair ever since.UBI Tennis: Il caso di Gianluca Rinaldini


Personal

He is the father of Mattia Rinaldini, a footballer who played mostly for A.S. Varese and A.C. Prato.


Challenger titles


Singles: (1)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rinaldini, Gianluca 1959 births Living people Italian male tennis players People with paraplegia Sportspeople from Faenza 20th-century Italian sportsmen