Italian Coach Claudio Pistolesi Talks Intennse League and U.S. Tennis Growth

Claudio Pistolesi has followed a long and varied path through the world of tennis. Originally from Rome, he’s been a professional player, a globetrotting coach, and now a fixture in Florida’s tennis scene. Since founding Claudio Pistolesi Enterprise in Ponte Vedra Beach in 2014, he has worked to expand the game in the United States, particularly through the college system.

He recently sat down for an interview with DJ Mad Linx, Florida Tennis Magazine’s Director of Entertainment, during the grand opening of the Mouratoglou Academy in Zephyrhills — an event that also hosted matches from the Intennse Pro Tennis League.

Noticing the lack of Italian players in U.S. college tennis, Pistolesi saw an opportunity. “As an Italian, I didn’t understand why there were no Italians in college, so I said, let’s open the door… now there are many,” he says. “I think I opened the door.”

Source: Intennse Tennis

Today, he coaches the Jacksonville Intennse team, part of a newer, fast-paced format of city-based team tennis. Local interest has grown quickly. Matches at venues like Sawgrass Country Club have drawn regular crowds. “Surprisingly amazing,” Pistolesi says of the local response. “They immediately clicked to have the sense of belonging… they keep asking me, ‘When is next?’”

Beyond his work in Jacksonville, Pistolesi remains an active voice in Italian tennis. He recalls growing up in the 1970s when Italy had a strong tennis culture, and he sees recent developments as a return to form. A key change, he believes, has been the shift away from centralized training models. “You don’t need to centralize anything,” he says. “All the players now — they stay with the coach they had from the start. They grow together.”

Fitness has also become a central part of player development. Pistolesi notes that some of Italy’s top tennis fitness coaches came from other sports. “Marco Panichi, after working with me for 15 years, now he’s [Jannik] Sinner’s fitness coach. He was with Djokovic before that.”

Source: Claudio Pistolesi Enterprise

In Florida, Pistolesi is also involved with JTCC Jacksonville, an extension of the well-known junior tennis center in Maryland. “We’re partnered with a beautiful high school, private high school,” he says. “JTCC is one of the biggest schools in the U.S.”

Despite these successes, he acknowledges broader challenges in the sport. The structure of professional tennis, with multiple governing bodies and ranking systems, can be difficult for casual fans to follow. “If I put myself in the shoe of a fan… it’s confusing,” he says. “ATP, WTA, ITF, UTR… you have the whole alphabet. People don’t see anymore what the letters stand for.”

He sees team formats like Intennse Tennis as a possible way forward. “Intennse, I think, is one great answer to that,” Pistolesi says.

From coaching juniors and professionals to building tennis programs from the ground up, Pistolesi remains involved in many aspects of the sport.

Watch the full interview below:

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Written by Florida Tennis Assistant Editor Alex Binstok.