Maltese player earns scholarship to University of North Carolina
Alex De Gabriele, one of Malta’s most promising tennis players has successfully completed a full-time training programme in Sicily Italy.
The training programme, which commenced in March 2021 has been supported by the Malta Sports Scholarships Scheme within the Ministry of Education.
During these months, De Gabriele has been based in Sicily to further develop his tennis game. The full-time programme entailed intensive tennis and fitness training daily as well as extensive travel to compete in several tennis competitions.
Following this intensive training programme, Alex will be heading to the United States in August 2022, to continue with his tennis development programme at the University of North Carolina (UNCW).
“I would like to personally thank the Malta Scholarships Scheme within the Ministry of Education for their constant support throughout this training programme,” De Gabriele said.
“This scheme has made it possible for me to train professionally in one of the most prestigious tennis centres in Italy and to develop further my game. I look forward to the next challenges ahead.”
During his tenure in Sicily, De Gabriele competed twice in the Italian team competitions, obtaining a promotion in 2021 and reaching the final four stage in 2022.
The main thrust of the full-time training programme was that of preparing De Gabriele for ITF Junior competitions.
At the ITF Junior tour level, De Gabriele, who at the start of the training programme was unranked, managed to obtain the best rank of 471, despite limited travelling due to COVID-19 restrictions.
De Gabriele recently attained very encouraging results at the ITF Junior level, winning a doubles title in Cyprus, contesting a final in Turkey and reaching several semi-finals.
De Gabriele has also been forming part of the Malta Men’s tennis team, having been selected for the Davis Cup.
De Gabriele represented Malta in the Davis Cup in Cyprus in 2021 and will be representing Malta in the Davis Cup in July 2022 in Azerbaijan.
He will also be donning the Malta colours in two other prestigious competitions this summer at the Mediterranean Games in Algeria and the Junior European Championships in Switzerland.
