Could it have been all the fault of that journalist colleague who clumsily asked a slightly convoluted question to Djokovic? Nole doesn’t chase any Sinner or any Alcaraz, if anything he tries to stop the hourglass of time. And for one day his legs remember that he is the hare of world tennis, the one at the top of all victories and statistics. Even the Australian bookmakers must have encouraged him: Repubblica explained to us that for one Australian dollar bet on the Italian in the final, you would win 10 cents. Result? The Serbian wolf wins in five hard-fought sets over the Italian fox.

The semi-final does not reward Sinner

Never tell a great champion to retire, it could cause him a backlash. After two years of knockouts, Nole gave back a few blows to the Italian. And who knows if this Australian Open will go alongside the Paris 2024 Olympics, among the sunset gems of the Serbian’s immense career. For the tennis player born in San Candido, however, something didn’t work. He clung to the serve, was lackluster when it mattered, not his usual cold, relentless killer. Not very careful and not very lucky in break points.

Agreed, yes, even curling fans, who are excited for the upcoming Olympics, know it: Nole arrived at the big match with a game and a half of rest. A lot of manna for an almost 39 year old: it allowed him to play it a little more on equal terms. It’s always been said: in 3 sets he can annoy the two big names on the circuit. He rested, he saw the opponent not as Caterpillar as he was used to: he tried, it went well. With 14 points less, the Serbian made the game his own: but how many times in his career has he taken it home in this way? By placing the decisive points at the right moments? Evidently he remembered that the Rod Laver Arena is his temple: no one here has written the history of tennis more than him.

The closed roof and the controversies

Jannik’s path was not easy and this also counted. His Australian campaign began immediately under bad omens. He always had the fear of contracting some debilitating virus. His tournament allowed us to meet the American Eliot Spizzirri, the classic carneade looking for the day of glory, which never happened. On this occasion, however, we learned the latest innovations in the regulations – heat police and extreme heat protocol – the result of the poor management of playing times and conditions for the 2025 season. To make a long story short: if it’s too hot, the roof closes and the air conditioning goes full blast. Above 40 degrees, the match can also be suspended. But the anti-Sinners, faced with the closed roof, helped throw some controversy into the fan.

How the Italian Open went

However, several people brought him trouble, to our Sinner: from the Federtennis n.1, Angelo Binaghi, who for the umpteenth time spoke of Jannik as “Novak 2.0”, to John McEnroe who candidly admitted that he would lose, against the South Tyrolean, with the severe score of 6-1 6-2. Many now describe Melbourne as a blue Caporetto, faced with an Italian blocked in the quarter-finals by an injury and the other missing a hat-trick at the Australian Open in the semi-final. One is 23, the other 24 and they are making us ecstatic. Italy was still great, even if fans saw fewer free-to-air matches than they should have and perhaps understood less what happened to the world number 2. It was less good for Flavio Cobolli, blocked by his intestine, the same problem as Jasmine Paolini. The real sporting tragedy, however, is yet another surrender by Matteo Berrettini. Sin.

What’s wrong

Of course, the clues are now different and constitute proof: Sinner’s engine is so powerful that every now and then it stalls. A year ago, here, eighth with Rune: he needs a medical time out to recover. Cincinnati, August ’25, plays the first 5 games with Alcaraz for the honor of signing and then raises the white flag. Shanghai, same year: cramps with Griekspoor, he can’t walk, he retires in the third set.

Another defeat in the fifth

The fifth set, as in Paris, was once again fatal for him. He may be equipped with the super mental coach Riccardo Ceccarelli, but a warning light comes on when it’s hot and the engine boils: “Jannik is white-skinned and freckled like me, it’s clear that if it’s 45 degrees and you have a roof, you use it”, explained McEnroe’s long tongue. However, our hero is good at taking the hardest hits. After the mocking knockout in the Roland Garros final last year, Wimbledon immediately arrived, the tournament born of that burning suffering. It will metabolize this too. If you always wonder where it can improve, here it is: a little more endurance in matches over 4 hours. No drama: Djokovic, right around Sinner’s age, found the right combination of diet and physical preparation to overcome this obstacle and overcome Federer and Nadal in 5-set matches.

Now the final

The two beautiful semi-finals gave value to a tournament that was a bit anonymous on the pitch and too lively off it, with many digressions and gossip reigning supreme. Too much sportsshow, not enough quality tennis, rare stories of men and women to highlight. Coco Gauff smashes a racket in the locker room with cameras on: oh god, but it’s very serious, how horrible. Iga Świątek is right: “now we are animals in the zoo, observed even when we poo”. Without the blue bearers, we hope that Alcaraz and Djokovic will give us more emotions like those of the semi-finals.