Soccer-mad Italy Is Now Obsessed With Tennis Player Jannik Sinner After His Australian Open Title – News18

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Soccer-mad Italy Is Now Obsessed With Tennis Player Jannik Sinner After His Australian Open Title – News18


CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy: Soccer-mad Italy has a brand new obsession. Jannik Sinner’s efficiency on the tennis court docket has captured the nation’s consideration.

And not only for the way in which Sinner rallied from two units right down to beat Daniil Medvedev and win the Australian Open title on Sunday.

Ever since Sinner reached the ATP Finals championship match at residence in Turin after which led Italy to the Davis Cup title on consecutive weeks in November, he’s been taking on the headlines from soccer.

“Jannik Sinner wrote a new page of history today that fills us with pride,” Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni wrote on Facebook. “It’s an achievement worthy of a real champion.”

The Turin closing was probably the most watched tennis match of all time on Italian tv, with 6.7 million viewers. It wouldn’t be stunning if Sunday’s match seems to have a fair greater viewers, though it was proven solely on Pay TV, beginning at 9:30 a.m., in Sinner’s residence nation.

It’s a testomony to the 22-yr-previous Sinner’s clear-lower picture, his capability to at all times say the correct factor and act correctly.

“I’ve never seen such a great yet simple champion,” Andrea Abodi, Italy’s Sports Minister, wrote on X, the social media platform beforehand generally known as Twitter. “I’m happy and honored that he’s Italian.”

The consideration can be resulting from the truth that no Italian man had received a Grand Slam singles title in practically a half-century — since Adriano Panatta raised the French Open trophy in 1976.

“And trust me, this is just the first of many Grand Slam finals,” mentioned Flavia Pennetta, the final Italian lady to win a Grand Slam after beating compatriot Roberta Vinci within the 2015 U.S. Open closing.

Not since Valentino Rossi was dominating bike racing, Marco Pantani was the world’s prime bicycle owner or Alberto Tomba was successful Olympic snowboarding medals has a non-soccer athlete gained a lot consideration in Italy.

What’s completely different about Sinner from Rossi, Pantani and Tomba is that Sinner is from a German-speaking space of Italy. He left residence for the Italian Riviera to coach with Riccardo Piatti, now his former coach, on the age of 13.

When Sinner opted to not play Davis Cup for Italy within the September group section — saying he hadn’t recovered in time from tournaments in North America, together with the U.S. Open — he was extensively criticized with an underlying sentiment that he wasn’t absolutely Italian.

“Caso Nazionale” (National Issue), mentioned the entrance-web page of Sportweek, the Gazzetta dello Sport’s weekly journal.

The criticism rapidly died down when Sinner went on his late season tear and virtually single-handedly earned Italy its first Davis Cup title since 1976 by beating Novak Djokovic in each singles and doubles within the semifinals in opposition to Serbia after which clinching the decisive singles level within the closing in opposition to Australia.

The Davis Cup workforce is because of be honored by Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday, and now Sinner can convey alongside one other trophy.

There had been virtually two extra trophies to convey however Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori misplaced the Australian Open males’s doubles closing to Rohan Bopanna and Matt Ebden on Saturday.

“Italy is on top of the tennis world,” mentioned 90-yr-previous Nicola Pietrangeli, the one different Italian man to win a Grand Slam singles title, having received the 1959 and 1960 French Opens.

In Sinner’s tiny hometown of Sesto (inhabitants 1,860) close to the Austrian border, about 70 folks gathered inside the 2-court docket indoor tennis facility the place Sinner first performed to look at the ultimate. It may need been a much bigger celebration however the city is in mourning after a mom and two kids had been just lately killed in an auto accident.

“It’s an incredible achievement that provides joy for us all during a time of great pain,” Sesto Mayor Thomas Summerer mentioned. “Tomorrow we will all go to the funeral but Jannik has provided us with positive emotions to help us get through this.”

The “Carota Boys,” Sinner’s fan membership, had been in Melbourne for the beginning of the Australian Open. Having returned to Italy, they watched the ultimate on a jumbo display screen in Turin along with greater than 1,000 orange-clad followers.

The carrot theme is partly a tribute to Sinner’s pink-orange hair and the way he ate carrots as an alternative of the extra widespread banana throughout a changeover at a match in Vienna in 2019. “Carota” is the Italian phrase for carrot.

In Cortina, a city not removed from Sesto the place World Cup ski races had been being held, Italian skiers and followers watched the ultimate on their telephones in between the racing.

“Forza Jannik Sinner,” mentioned a banner hanging from the stands subsequent to the ski course.

According to the Gazzetta, Sinner already earns 25 million euros ($27 million) per yr from a big array of sponsors led by Nike. His different sponsors embrace: Head, Gucci, Lavazza, Rolex, Alfa Romeo and Parmigiano Reggiano. The listing is prone to develop and develop into much more profitable now.

Nicknamed “Jan the Fox” since he was a college child, Sinner was an completed junior ski racer and his mother and father labored in a ski lodge the place his father was a chef and his mother was a waitress. Sinner’s father just lately began touring together with his son to some tournaments however the household, which additionally contains Sinner’s adopted brother Marc, didn’t go to Australia.

“I wish that everyone could have my parents because they always let me choose whatever I wanted to,” Sinner mentioned to conclude his trophy speech. “Even when I was younger I (played) also some other sports and they never put pressure on myself and I wish that this freedom is possible for as many young kids as possible.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)



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