Sinner, the first cracks in the image of the most cold champion

Doping, a huge black cloud falls on the number one of the ATP ranking. Will Sinner be able to withstand the shock?

He’s rich, he’s good, he’s the first number one in the ATP Ranking that Italy has ever had. And he is also young, which gives hope for a long and successful career. Only that in the sea of ​​paeans raised in honor of Jannik Sinner some cracks are starting to appear. First the defeat at Wimbledon against Daniil Medvedevwhich reached the fifth set, culminating with the announcement that she had physical problems that were certainly not serious.

A scenario that immediately made him be labeled as a “crybaby”, as they say in Milan, that is, someone who is only capable of winning if everything goes right. Then, the decision taken at the last minute to skip the Olympics for tonsillitis. So the holidays in Costa Smeralda with the girlfriend (and colleague) Anna Kalinskaya. Finally, the victory in Cincinnati but with the huge black cloud of the affair of the doping substance found on his body.

Let’s be clear, the tennis institutions agreed with him on two occasions and therefore dismissed the whole thing as a mere accident, blaming the masseur for the (indeed very poor) finding. The end? Not so much.

There Wadathe World Anti-Doping Agency, has already appealed twice and will do so again. A sign that perhaps something is not right. Someone could argue that Wada itself has been fooled for decades by the various Armatrong, Ulrich and company… doping. But it’s not a good sign.

Then comes the right question from the great old man of Italian tennis, Nicholas Pietrangeli. Which essentially asks: but if Sinner he was found completely innocent, because they took away 400 points useful for the ATP Ranking? And why did they take away his Cincinnati semifinal prize, worth 300 thousand dollars? Mystery. If the responsibilities are of others, why should the tennis player from Alto Adige have to pay?

Then comes the Australian Nick Kyrgiosthe archetype of “he’s good but doesn’t apply himself”, a crazy head capable with the same nonchalance of challenging Wimbledon to his majesty Novak Djokovic and to lose badly in the first round of any minor tournament. Well, the Australian, who gossip lovers remember because he was engaged to the same Kalinskaya, overflows on Twitter without half measures and casts heavy shadows on the decision not to pursue the tennis player from Alto Adige. “It’s ridiculous – he writes – Sinner should have been banned for two years. Massage cream. Yes, nice…”.

Also other colleagues, such as the Bulgarian Denis Shapovalovthey speak bluntly of “double standards”. And, even stranger, as also pointed out Dagospia from the corner of Sinner the athletic trainer disappeared Umberto Ferrara and the physiotherapist James Naldi. A case? Well…

What is important to underline is that Sinner, until now associated with a not particularly sexy vegetable, today reveals his less popular face. Will he be able to withstand the shock, especially given that the story doping risks tarnishing its image for a long time? Of course, with the first major victory, many will probably forget what happened. But be careful of the chorus of opponents, who will not miss an opportunity to remind us that yes, Sinner he’s strong, but… And it’s precisely on the ability to handle that “but” that Sinner’s future is played out. He’s now much less of an ethereal boy and a bit more of a “bad boy”.