The doors open, just like when a star is expected to arrive at the airport, and then he comes out: Erik Crepaldi, waving, smiling, joking as if nothing had happened three months ago. He has visibly lost weight, of course, but what a sigh of relief to see him like this, healthy and in a good mood: “It’s a gift for those who have been close to him in this long nightmare”, tell his old friends, who show the video of his “Triumphal exit” from the hospital, a few seconds that bounce off the WhatsApp group of his company and make people move. The Vercelli tennis player born in 1990 seems to have really recovered after the terrible car accident that for long weeks had kept everyone in suspense. «Eh, olè: mission accomplished», he says in those few seconds of filming. And then off, with his fist raised in favor of a mobile phone, to pronounce a Spanish “Vamos” a la Rafa Nadal. Backpack on the shoulder, strictly with a tennis racket sticking out, and a Christmas-themed sweater: how far away it seems on the evening of the crash on the road to Biella, in Busonengo. The rush to the hospital, the desperate conditions. The appeals from his family and his girlfriend, the demonstrations of affection from all over the world of sport: there was also a greeting from Fabio Fognini.
The beginning of this new life for now is told by father Luigi, who in this period in his club has kept everyone informed about the boy’s conditions. “On Tuesday evening we returned home after more than a month of treatment in Alexandria – he explains -. The worst would really seem to be behind him: now he will have to continue a precise recovery path, but he can do it at home with a certainly more serene spirit and with the presence of all of us. Soon we will begin to be followed by Dr. Fabio Francese ». A few days earlier another short video had already circulated where he could be seen dribbling with his inseparable racket against the wall of a gym. On the possible return to sporting activity, however, father Luigi goes there with lead feet. “Today it would be risky and quite premature to let go of any hypothesis. We know full well that it will take time and patience. Every 8-10 days Erik will be monitored by a medical staff to get the updated picture. In recent weeks, the various professionals consulted by us – psychologists, speech therapists, neurologists and more – would have ruled out complications and consequences both on a cognitive and motor level: at the moment this is the best news we could hear “.
Erik’s autumn was an ordeal, who saved his life, but will still have to work for a long time. He has already had to suffer and learn to cultivate the patience of champions. The hospitalization in Vercelli after the solo crash, then the transfer to Novara. From November 3rd to December 7th, the tennis player who returns to train his fearsome left-footed man in the video underwent an articulated re-education phase at Borsalino in Alessandria. Under the watchful eye of his parents, his elder brother Maurizio, a tennis teacher like his father Luigi in the family club in via Montebello, of his girlfriend Federica. «A couple of times a day we went to see him to give him not only moral support, but also to bring him some more dishes, since lately he could afford a more varied regime – says his father -. Being able to hug him again was undoubtedly the best Christmas present. Thanks to all those who are and have been close to us ». –