Sports reporters, more than other sectors, we know, write about water. Especially those who follow tennis. Only a month ago, volleys of words were written about Alvarez, sorry, Alcaraz, who submits our Jannik Sinner to his rhythm. They all have to be thrown away, because things change quickly: the South Tyrolean wins the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000 for the first time, forgets the ailments of Shanghai and regains first place in the ATP rankings, overtaking the Murcian.

Situation reversed

We left off just a couple of weeks ago with a completely different situation: Alcaraz solid, unbeatable, stronger, new number 1 and leader. In the space of an amen the picture was reversed. The Spaniard, after winning in Tokyo, exits in the round of 32 in Paris with Cameron Norrie. Sinner wins in Vienna, in Bercy (the first and only Masters 1000 of the year) and also scores the Six Kings Slam. The two great tenors of world tennis exchange roles on the cover, always leaving the crumbs to the others.

Jannik brought his exasperated “caterpillar” tennis back to high levels – with a few small miss passes. Not only that, he is also adding some subtleties of touch for the discerning palates, also to give some breathing room to the (exploding) balls. Zverev demolished (6-0 6-1), Auger-Aliassime kept at bay (6-4 7-6), the controversies over the failure to participate in the Davis Cup put aside for now (but will return), the Gramellini-Cazzullo pair neutralized. In short, an excellent balance sheet.

Communication needs to be managed better

Let’s go back, just for a moment, to the chaos at Davis: communication could certainly have been managed better. If the president of Federtennis, Angelo Binaghi, later admitted that he had already known about his refusal for a year, why hide the matter until the last minute? In this way we all lost: the image of the champion, the trust in the federation, the respect towards the other Azzurri. Which are not exactly poor, if we allow ourselves the luxury of leaving Luciano Darderi, number 27 in the ranking, at home. No, I’m saying, let’s not call up the current number 27. The salad bowl can be bet on anyway: it would have been more convenient for the environment to announce, already twelve months ago, that the 2025 objective was to try to win the third consecutive Davis Cup at home, without our top representative. Patience.

Certainly, if we had known it earlier, we would have avoided the usual hairy controversy: Austria awaits us in the quarter-finals. And you go behind the scenes, with Jannik who at the Vienna tournament says he feels at home and then refuses the call-up against his neighbours, serving a high ball which Bruno Vespa tried to smash awkwardly out of several metres, claiming that a German speaker cannot be Italian (and what are the American citizens of Miami or San Antonio – a city where more Spanish is spoken than English – what are they?). The outburst can be held at the Bar Sport, but it’s unfortunate that a doyen of Rai journalism is propagating it on social media. These are questions resolved forty years ago, in the times of Gustav Thoni (always good, even today, at defusing them with common sense) and the legendary “Blue Avalanche”.

The final verdict in Turin

For some, Jannik could still only play singles in Davis, not doubles, considering the short distance between Turin, home of the ATP Finals, and Bologna, location of this year’s finals. The most orderly and effective defense at the net served him today, interviewed by the “Corriere”, Boris Becker: «I won Davis – said the German champion (he did) – I won it twice, in 1988 and 1989. The following year I didn’t play it. I needed an extra week of rest and felt I had spent enough for my country. Exactly like Jannik.”

Now everyone is in Turin to see the duel between the two tennis greats live. Without the three-month suspension that has strongly affected his 2025, Sinner would have many more points in the standings and many certainties. He will have to fight again, before the expected rest: the “masters’ tournament” and number 1 in the rankings are up for grabs. Whatever happens, the year was equally sensational.