Jannik Sinner wants to play the three most important tournaments on clay as best as possible. But suddenly comes a very heavy criticism
The clay court tournament season is about to get underway with the three most important and most prestigious events: the two Masters 1000 in Madrid and Rome and the French Internationals at Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of 2024. Jannik Sinner, after the controversial elimination in the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo against Stefanos Tsitsipas, he is preparing as best he can with the aim of getting to the bottom of all three.
Among other things, the goal set at the beginning of the season, first place in the ATP ranking, is now just around the corner and the young South Tyrolean certainly won’t want to let it slip away. Sinner, a bit like what happened thirty years ago with Alberto Tomba, has become the most loved and followed sportsman by Italians especially after the triumphs in the Davis Cup and the Australian Open.
The twenty-two-year-old from South Tyrol is appreciated not only for his technical skills and the class with which he now beats all his opponents, but above all his calm style off the pitch and a humility that was in some ways excessive. Sinner is the classic good boy that all parents would like to see with their daughter, he is the son that every mother would like to have.
He has no particular vices, he loves his family and has never abandoned his old friends: “When we meet we don’t do anything strange, on the contrary. We still play paper ball throws like we did at school“. A model to follow which, however, doesn’t seem to please everyone. Indeed, a former champion almost admitted that he couldn’t take it anymore.
Sinner, the rejection is clear: fans are furious
The greatest Italian tennis player of the last fifty years, before Sinner burst onto the scene, it was Adriano Panatta. The former winner of Rome and Paris was a guest on the program ‘Gorgeous framebroadcast on ‘Rai 3’, together with his great friend and former doubles partner Paolo Bertolucci. And speaking of Sinner, Panatta almost blurted out: “He is a very good boy, very respectable, very polite, he doesn’t make a mistake, he plays like a God. But that’s enough: it’s not like they have to make us burden ourselves every time“.
I’m not satisfied, he escalated the issue with a phrase destined to spark controversy: “Jannik is as you see him, he makes a statement and is always balanced, he never breaks his rackets on the court. Perfection however can sometimes become boring. Am I perfect? Absolutely not. Compared to Sinner we are like the devil and holy water“.
