Luck is blind, but does bad luck see very well? It comes naturally to express oneself in this way, taking note of the physical problems of Jannik Sinner. The South Tyrolean (no. 2 in the world) was the most awaited in the Italian tennis internationals which will begin tomorrow on the courts of the Foro Italico. Unfortunately, however, a hip injury made it impossible for him to respond and there are clouds over the near future of the 22-year-old from Pustertal.
Yes, because the critical issue mentioned is very delicate. The movements on the hip, for a tennis player, are very important and solving the issue is not so simple. Sinner risks missing the next Roland Garros and it is not known with certainty when he will return to play. A real disappointment for those who have been the protagonists of an amazing season so far.
Jannik’s case is not isolated in the recent history of Italian sport and must be included in a discussion of physical fragility which coincided in the competitive path of the boy from Sesto Pusteria. There are other cases of champions who have been stopped by physical problems. The example closest to Sinner is that of the other Italian tennis player Matteo Berrettini. After reaching the final at Wimbledon 2021 and victories in the grass tournaments in Stuttgart and Queen’s, Matteo had to deal with various kinds of problems, with continuous stops.
The same reasoning can be done for the double Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs, afflicted by constant problems with his muscles, which also led him to change coach and look for an alternative path in Florida, at the court of Rana Reider. And what about Sofia Goggialinked to Sinner by her passion for skiing, given her competitive beginnings on the snow.
The series of leg injuries have somewhat punctuated the path of the Bergamo alpine skiing champion, who without these stops could have aspired to even more ambitious goals. In football, the tendency to injury also comes to mind Federico Chiesaperhaps the only real national player capable of making a difference.
Clearly, these setbacks are part of an athlete’s journey and are not a common characteristic of a country, also taking into account what is always happening in the tennis world to the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. But there are other examples of other foreign champions with physical and psychological problems. Think about it Caeleb Dressel and ad Adam Peaty in swimming. In essence, one doesn’t feel “Calimero” in Italy, but there is pure and simple displeasure.
