It’s not what he would have liked to become, with a twilight Djokovic withdrawing from Roland Garros after the injury suffered in the round of 16 against the Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, but it’s the reason why he started.
And so on Monday 10 June, when Paris will have a new owner, even the ranking will find a new king on the throne. For the first time in history he is Italian, he will be 22 years and 299 days old on the day of the record, it is called Jannik Sinner.
The overtaking of the predestined
The overtaking it was a matter of days, weeks at most, written in the stars and decided by the alignment of the planets like every milestone planted in tennis by predestined with red hair and the fastest arm west of the Adige: youngest Italian player to win a Challenger (Bergamo 2019), to advance in an ATP event (semi-final of the ATP 250 in Antwerp 2019) and to reach the quarterfinals in a Slam (Paris 2020); to have won a tournament in the Open era (ATP 250 in Sofia 2020 at 19 years, 2 months and 29 days); to enter in the top 10 (n.9 on November 1, 2021 thanks to the final at the Master 1000 in Miami and the four tournaments he won during the season, which reserves him the icing on the cake of the ATP Finals as a substitute for the injured Berrettini). Not bad for someone who says that i record they don’t care. Immediately denied come on overwhelming successes of the annus mirabilis 2023: the first Master 1000 title (Toronto), the rapid demolition of inveterate taboos (Medvedev, Djokovic, Rune), the final at the Turin Masters, the triumph in the Davis Cup as leader of the national team and, on the continuation of widespread inertia In the 2024the Australian Open in Melbourne plus Rotterdam and Miami.
The approach to the summit was so violent and definitive that it sent Djokovic into crisis, struggling with a rival who hasn’t beaten them since November last year (see Malaga and Melbourne): the change of coach has been metabolised (from Riccardo Piatti at the Vagnozzi-Cahill couple but the foundations of this climb were laid by the master of Como, the mentor that Jannik never mentioned again, not even under torture, demonstrating in public an indifference that did not go unnoticed, indeed, it was experienced as unmotivated ingratitude), Sinner for the Serbian champion of 24 Major titles became a puzzle capable of sending his superior minds into a tailspin, to the point of triggering in the best of them a crisis of motivational rejection, still unresolved.
It is precisely by observing Djokovic that Jannik became the heir with similar characteristics. The process of imitation finds its reward in one leadership of world tennis which, once conquered, will have to be defended from the assault of Carlos Alcaraz, the champion of the Next Next Gen, the youngest nemesis (just turned 21), the only one who – in top form – is in possession of a greater range of shots and solutions than the red baron. Inspiration versus rationality, Spain-Italy like a football: the rivalry – what a pleasure – of the next decade.
Nobody like Sinner
Sinner succeeds where they failed due to laziness Adriano Panatta and due to incomplete talent (and by talent we also mean the ability to keep away from injuries) all the others. Without inconveniencing Nick Pietrangeli, who at almost 91 years of age must be recognized as having an unshakeable (but also anachronistic) birthright in a geological era in which tennis was very different from the modern one, Jannik is the most complete and all-around product of the Italian school (first the border one in Alto Adige and then, we reiterate, the Piatti academy in Bordighera) has ever produced, he is a player capable of winning on every surface (with a clear preference for indoor fast, the pitch on which 6 of his 13 titles arrived: another 6 on outdoor fast, only one on Umag clay), to understand grass (a rare gift for a compatriot) and to bring about a turning point speed and to power of modern tennis, built as it is on the combination (serve-forehand) which is the cornerstone of the evolving game. Today, no one hits the ball harder than Sinner.
«If you are predestined for work, the results can only come»
Go left home at 13, rolling down the mountain towards the sea to open up to new experiences and become that citizen of the world that he would never have been by clinging to the snow, paid off. The greatest satisfaction is demonstrate to father Hanspeter and mother Siglinde, who bet on the talent of that serious and thoughtful son in unsuspecting times, that the choice was a happy one, the tears that fell due to the distance were not shed in vain, the home example of work that always rewards (he a cook and she a waitress in the same refuge in Val Fiscalina) was learned. There is one sentence, more than any other, that Jannik Sinner describes: «If you are predestined for work, like me, the results can only come». Fatigue: the only form of predestination that recognizes and accepts.
Here it is rewardhowever his ongoing Roland Garros ends up (on Tuesday he faces the Bulgarian Dimitrov). But don’t believe him when he says the ranking isn’t important, he doesn’t care. Rising to number one gives meaning to the choices of the last ten years of its existence. And it was precisely out of the rush to chase points to achieve the record that Jannik made a rare mistake: going to play at altitude in Madrid (a tournament that was not very training for Rome, the home Master 1000 which he would then be forced to skip) , throwing open the door toright hip injury, which from an annoyance (in Monte Carlo) has become a problem to be solved. Losing time, tennis, shape (he lost weight and lost muscle mass).
Djokovic ends, Sinner begins
Defunct for obvious reasons of obsolescence the Djokovic era (427 weeks, not consecutive but still a monstrosity, king), Jannik Sinner is the freckled and modern face of a tennis that finally manages to suddenly rejuvenate itself after a good fifteen years of the Big Three in command and useless attempts to undermine them, by Jannik fans from all over the world like them the grace (innate), elegance (thanks to the country it represents, Italy, full of style, taste and beauty), power combined with control, that smile with slightly crooked teeth, which give authenticity to the boy in an environment of models – sometimes – plasticized or excessively constructed on a table. It’s physiological: Djokovic ends, Sinner begins. The timing with which Jannik appears on the scene – with Federer retired, Nadal evidently beyond his limits and Djokovic on his last legs – is probably the greatest talent that existence has endowed him with.
How long it will last at No. 1 is not relevant to ask now. It is more interesting to note the speed with which he obtained it, rather: it was the February 12, 2018 and, as number 1592, he appeared in the world ranking for the first time.
That’s why it was so important to participate in Roland Garros, even without a match in the legs, even with a hip just torched and under observation, so that a false movement does not rekindle the fire. Winning the lead on the field, and not at home in Monte Carlo, stuck in the pits due to injury, even in absentia, corresponds to Jannik Sinner’s idea of the world. The results with the work. No sweat, no party.
