«My dreams – he replied, teased on the topic, a Sinner little more than a boy – are become number one in the world and win many Slams, no hurry”. The immediate and automatic reference is to a famous interview with Diego Armando Maradona, also beardless, also with two dreams: «To play a World Cup and win it». What is surprising is naturalness with which the two declare their objectives and the fact that both are already tremendously credible. Once the objectives have been established, each of them pursues them according to their characteristics, Maradona certainly more talented and Sinner certainly more professional; but the aura of predestined unites them beyond any difference.
What makes someone predestined is, first of all, the confidence in one's own abilities: I know I can get to the top of the world, I just need to figure out how. It took Sinner very little to understand how and he always moved according to that primitive intuition. He resorted to qualities that make him an atypical character in our latitudes and in fact he comes from places located on the Italian borders. Indeed, to be honest, the geographical references would place San Candido (where he was born) and Sesto in Pusteria (where his parents live) in Austria. The Dobbiaco saddle, a few steps from San Candido in the direction of Bolzano, acts as a watershed: on this side, if a drop of rain falls it ends up in the Adige and therefore in the Adriatic Sea; on the other, that of Sinner, it goes into the Danube and then into the Black Sea.
Maybe also for this reason, because of a more Nordic way of understanding family ties, Jannick is heard saying, shortly after lifting the cup in Melbourne: “I thank my parents for the freedom they gave me.” The breath of a boy's freedom, the concept that the relationship between parents and children is perfectly completed only in the moment of separation: what un-Italian topics!
Like calm, the virtue of the strong. That quiet awareness that shines through Sinner's every action, be it a decision to be made on the pitch in a hundredth of a second or an interview after a defeat: «I can't wait to get back on the field working» we have often heard it repeated after a knockout.
Yesterday he was surprised by Medvedev's aggressiveness in the first sets and had certainly entered the court less serene than usual, as Adriano Panatta rightly pointed out: «I thought he didn't have the same face as when he played with Djokovic». But Jannik didn't lose his composure: when hit with balls, you could see him thinking. He also asks his corner for advice, without getting lost. In reverse, he tried to vary the tactics until he found the good one, thanks also to Vagnozzi, one of the coaches: «He's starting to get tired, step back on his serve and start the rally».
Blow after blow, Sinner's tennis has become looser and more incisive, that of Medvedev is less precise and unassailable. Red's face has changed imperceptibly: the worried calm has given way to fierce determination. Because Jannik is polite and kind just as he is ruthless. He counts the goal he has set for himself and the Slam put on the board is just another important step.
After celebrating he will soon return to the fields to prepare for the next appointments with his usual obstinacy. We will see him smile serenely as he goes straight towards his goals with old and new awareness of an atypical blue champion: the parents who follow him from home, the girlfriend who sends a simple “thank you” over the internet but, now more than ever, also a place in the hearts of all Italians.
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