“I’m happy to give you a little something positive.” So much for Jannik! Twelve tournaments this year, ten finals, six victories. After the disqualification, he did everything he could to regain the number 1. He didn’t succeed, but in the middle of the season it seemed like a utopia. He remains the “master” of the ATP circuit, reconfirmed in Turin, a fast and favorite court, after a good victory against rival Carlos Alcaraz (7-6, 7-5).

The match

Sinner, in the final, starts with some off-center shots, while the Spaniard is immediately on the ball. Yet another illness among the crowd (the fourth in a week), with a break of about ten minutes, does not ruin the game plan. The Murcian calls a “medical time out” at 5-4, but everything seems ok. Two carefully calibrated lobs from the South Tyrolean allow him to win the first set at the tie break. An empty pass (two double faults, a missed forehand) cost the blue the break suffered in the first game of the second set. Alcaraz makes a mess by going to the net and gives something away, bringing back our champion, who in the final shows himself to be more cynical and avoids the Russian roulette of the tie break, pushed by a cheering audience who offers him additional energy to expend.

The chatter off the pitch

The ATP Finals in Turin won by Sinner, without defeats and sets lost along the way, started a little quietly compared to previous years. The threatening presence of a future move to Milan (capable of hosting more spectators) always looms. The president of Federtennis, Angelo Binaghi, makes another gaffe: he promises the arrival of Djokovic. The Serbian, outraged by the announcement, stops in Athens – after a good 250 final with Lorenzo Musetti – and doesn’t show up in Turin. Better for Musetti, who fights, entertains as always, gets exhausted and also says goodbye to Davis. But zero controversy here: he is objectively worn out and is about to become a father again. This refusal was digested better by the Italian tennis people. Then, the inevitable reflections on the physical conditions of some players, absolutely not capable of worrying the two dominators of the circuit: “You play too much!”, is the motto, but in the meantime Alcaraz, with Davis completed, takes a little trip to the USA for a few dollars more.

The mortgage was also paid off

A laugh, so as not to miss anything, with the Italian spirit of our champion. After giving up in Davis, Sinner was Austrian (for Fedez and Bruno Vespa he always has been). Now it’s too Italian. Everyone is pulling for his jacket, even the leader of the defenders of the South Tyrolean tradition. The president of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Arno Kompatscher, rightly asked to let him play tennis in peace. Which he does quite well.

For a moment, during the tournament, he also seemed like one of us, Jannik: when we read that he had taken out a mortgage to get a house in Milan. A 4 million euro operation for two properties. Well, the mortgage has already been repaid I would say, with the rich Turin prize (5 million euros) guaranteeing him an even brighter future.

Each Sinner tournament, however, is a short novel. We found out that he will never dye his hair platinum blonde like Alcaraz asked him to. And some deeper reflections than others: “I’m a tennis player, I just try to do my job well. There are many external movements that I follow, but up to a certain point. The important thing is to grow the sport: the more it grows, the better. The rest, politics, doesn’t concern me.”

McEnroe: “Like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones”

With Alcaraz they don’t hate each other: “We are similar, simple guys,” says the Spaniard. The two champions competed for the number 1 cup for the photographers in front of the Regio in Piazza Castello. The Murcian will place it on his shelf at home, at least for this year. The disqualification hole weighs too heavily, but 2026 will be another story, without asterisks.

Previously the tennis world was divided into three, now into two, like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones (John McEnroe said so). On the horizon, for now, neither Shelton nor Fonseca represent a threat. It’s a dyarchy, but a bad day can happen to anyone (more so to the Spanish than to the Italian). Do you remember when Zverev and Medvedev played Sinner on fast? Times gone by, now you have to make an effort to imagine dangers on an indoor pitch. The Australian De Minaur knows something about this, and in the semi-final he opposes the South Tyrolean fury as best he can, but suffers his 13th defeat out of 13 matches.

His coach: “He has yet to reach his peak”

Good news abounds from Turin. According to his coach, Darren Cahill, Sinner is extraordinary because he has really questioned everything in the last three years: serve, backhand down the line, transition to the net, volleys. By the way: Cahill, goes, doesn’t go, doesn’t stay. He has decided: stay. And he reiterates: “Jannik will reach his peak as a tennis player between the ages of 28 and 32”. Wow, he’s 24. So let’s get comfortable, in a few years he’ll be firing shots at 300 per hour and caressing the ball at the net like no one ever before. In short, as one of his great fans, Ligabue, present in the stands sang, the best is yet to come.