By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Joining the latest edition of Final Four Stories by Stoiximan, Nicolo Melli looked back on the emotional heights of capturing the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague championship with Fenerbahce Beko at the Final Four 2025 in Abu Dhabi.
Reflecting on a career-defining moment, the veteran forward put the achievement into perspective by explaining his mindset during the celebration. “The beauty of winning is the beauty of fighting for a long time for something so big. I thought about everything I’ve been through in my career, mostly in that year or in the previous years, and as you said, being 34, you never know if you’re lucky enough to have this chance again,” he told Eurohoops.
The climax was with Melli running to his family to celebrate the triumph on the Etihad Arena court. “Last year, my oldest daughter was four, and she started to understand a little bit. So, I ran immediately to them, and she’s like, we made it,” he noted. “This still hits me, like my daughter telling me we made it. It’s amazing. This is the pinnacle of emotions. Nothing can match this.”
He also spoke with great fondness about his grandmother. “Smartphones with grandmas and grandpas is a bad combination. So, right now, my grandma believes she’s an expert in basketball. Sometimes I have phone calls with her. I’m like, come on, grandma, I don’t want to talk basketball with you,” he mentioned, getting emotional.
Melli explained her absence from the arena and why communication via phone was so vital. “She wasn’t in Abu Dhabi, but she was following it somehow on the phone, even though she cannot watch a game. It’s too much tension. She gets too anxious. So, I called her just to share this moment with her,” he added.
The 35-year-old center also recalled a surprising physical feat. “After winning last year, I saw Kyle Hines in the stands in front of the bench, and there was a wall. I don’t know how tall this wall was. I just wanted to hug him, and I jumped over this wall. But when it was time to go back down, it was too high. I didn’t know how to go back down. So, after I don’t know how I made it. That was my peak as an athlete. I will never match what I did there to go hugging Kyle Hines,” he described reaching his former teammate.
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