Of
Marco Calabresi
A new season is about to begin. Jannik is chasing other records, Musetti doesn’t want to stop, as does Cobolli. Exhibitions and real tournaments, here is the program of the Azzurri
The trolleys at the airports are full of suitcases: holidays are over, tennis is ready to get back into motion, with the ten Italian players in the Top 100 (eight men and two women) who have completed their preparation and are preparing to take to the court for their first official matches. To see the most awaited player again, Jannik Sinner, However, we will have to wait until 8am (Italian time) on Saturday 10 January: before arriving in Australia, where he will defend the two consecutive titles won in Melbourne, Jannik (who sent his fans a nice New Year’s message) will stop in South Korea, for an exhibition scheduled in Seoul against Carlos Alcaraz, who will begin a new chapter in his career without the historic coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.
After the match in Seoul, the Sinner team will embark for Australia where, in the week preceding the start of the Australian Open, there will be two other unofficial commitments: another performance against Felix Auger-Aliassime and the ‘Million Dollar One Point Slam’a tournament that will see professionals and amateurs on the field, with matches that will be played on a single point.
Lorenzo Musetti, a few weeks after becoming a father for the second time, will begin his season in Hong Kong, with the aim of remaining in the Top 10 of the ATP ranking (he is currently number 7) and of returning to win a title that he has been missing for over three years: Musetti will play an ATP 250 (where he is seeded number 1), then he will fly to Australia where he will participate in the Kooyong Classic, an exhibition tournament which will also feature Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettinithe two leaders of Italy in the last Davis Cup won in Bologna.
If the Kooyong Classic will be Berrettini’s first match of the season, Cobolli will be the first to play an official match: Flavio, with his father Stefano who will instead be the captain of the Italian team, will make his debut in Perth on Sunday 4th in United Cupa team competition that sees Italy placed in a group with Switzerland and France. Jasmine Paolini, Andrea Vavassori, Sara Errani, Andrea Pellegrino and Nuria Brancaccio the other blues (final on Sunday 11th).
If in Hong Kong, with Musetti, he will also be on the scoreboard Lorenzo Sonego (with number 137 Francesco Maestrelli in the qualifiers, same goes for Luca Nardi in the Challenger 125 in Canberra), in Brisbane Matteo Arnaldi e Mattia Bellucci they will have to play the qualifiers to enter the main draw. Finally Luciano Darderi, currently number 4 in Italy (number 24 ATP): Darderi, who welcomed Guillermo Perez Roldan into his team, will start directly in the week from 12 January in Auckland, appetizer of the Australian Open which will begin on Sunday 18. If Paolini will be, with Cobolli, the star of the Italian team in the United Cup, Elisabetta Cocciaretto (number 83 WTA) has completed his preparation work in the Marche region and will play his first tournament of the new year in Auckland.
January 1, 2026 (changed January 1, 2026 | 09:15)
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