OfGaia Piccardi, sent to Paris
Djokovic withdraws from Roland Garros injured: he is overtaken and Jannik Sinner is number one in the ATP rankings. For the first time there is an Italian at the top, he is 22 years old and he is the most complete product our school has ever seen
It’s not what he wanted to be. With a twilight Djokovic withdrawing from Roland Garros due to the injury to the medial meniscus of his right knee, stressed by the marathons with Lorenzo Musetti and Francisco Cerundolo (Wimbledon is also at risk for the Serbian at this point). A more than honorable surrender, at the time which does not give discounts to anyone. Thirty-seven years, and hearing it all, 24 Slam titles, plus everything else. Sic transit Gloria Djoker.
And so on Monday 10 June, when Paris will necessarily have a new master (the man from Belgrade was also the reigning champion), the ranking will find an unprecedented king on the throne. For the first time in history he is Italian, he will be 22 years and 299 days old on the historical date of the record, his name is Jannik Sinner.
Sinner-Dimitrov at Roland Garros: the quarterfinal report
The overtaking of the predestined
The overtaking it was a matter of days, weeks at most, shouted by someone in the stands while he was liquidating the Dimitrov case, 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. But don’t believe him when he says the ranking isn’t important, he doesn’t care. Going up to number one makes sense to its long drift towards the valley.
Djokovic ends, Sinner begins
Defunct for obvious reasons of obsolescence the Djokovic era (428 weeks, not consecutive but still a monstrosity, king), Jannik is the beautiful freckled face of a tennis that manages to suddenly rejuvenate itself after the monopoly of the Big Three, The fans like his grace, his elegance (thanks to the country he represents, Italy), his power combined with control, that smile with slightly crooked teeth that gives authenticity to the boy in an environment of — sometimes — plasticized models. And, lastly, his girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya, Russian and cosmopolitan, a woman of the world, finally visible unlike her ex Maria Braccini.
It’s physiological: Djokovic ends, Sinner begins. The timing with which Jannik appears on the scene – with Federer retired, Nadal worn out and Djokovic broken – is the greatest talent that existence has endowed him with. That’s why it was important to be in Paris, even without a match in my legs, even with a hip under observation. Winning the lead on the field, and not in the pits, corresponds to Jannik Sinner’s idea of the world. Results thanks to work. No sweat, no party.
June 4, 2024 (changed June 4, 2024 | 5:45 pm)
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