Sinner in crisis? Why the leap in quality is postponed – Corriere.it

Playtime is officially over. After the very painful elimination in the second round of Roland Garros with Altmaier, plunged into a period of involution that originates in Montecarlo (the semifinal with Rune, another match that had to be won: something got jammed there), a sentence by Jannik Sinner in the analysis (lucid) of an unexpected kappaò with a much lower ranked player: “I wasn’t happy inside. I know that often I don’t show it, but when I play tennis I’m happy. I’ll come back stronger and happier.” The first Slam is the first Slam: a boundless playground where you can have fun and learn. But the fifteenth Slam, faced by number 8 in the ranking after hitting the quarterfinals in all the Majors, is another story. Greater expectations, more pressure, the collective thought of a postponed leap in quality, the discovery of burning disappointment. First of all for himself: «Perhaps I’ve loaded myself with too many expectations». Growing. Because time passes and the other terrible teenagers (Alcaraz, Rune) travel like trains, while Sinner derails loudly twice in a month: in Rome (Cerundolo) and in Paris (Altmaier).

Meanwhile, there is a misunderstanding to clarify: unlike the almost exclusiveness of Italian tennis players, Jannik Sinner did not grow up on earth. He comes from the mountains of South Tyrol, from the cold: its surface of choice is the fast indoor (six of his 7 titles he conquered on synthetics, the loudest barrels took place on concrete), his natural habitat up to 14 years. And even when the snowball rolled down towards the sea, towards the Bordighera Academy of mentor Piatti, the fast was the ground to focus on for obvious reasons: the characteristics of the South Tyrolean game go in that direction, not it would have made sense to distort it. The earth came later, and it will never be the Sinner home garden: his tennis on brick dust is more constructed, less natural, the shots have to be thought out, worked on, assembled piece by piece like a Lego construction; two backhands and a forehand are not enough, boom-bum-bum to bring home the fifteen. It takes patience that Jannik doesn’t have today. You need physical endurance, especially two out of three when the match stretches beyond five hours like against Altmaier, which Jannik doesn’t have today. He finished lifeless, upset, empty. At 21.

Age is an alibi (wavering). Not everyone has the precociousness of Alcaraz nor the competitive wickedness of Rune, a young Connors from the great North. It is right to give Sinner his time to mature, knowing full well that tennis waits for no one, every opportunity is lost, every Grand Slam kicks away one’s talent.

Beyond the technique (Sinner still gets a few free points from the service, to mention an evident gap at the top 10 level), those thoughts that are required of him by the earth, on the grass Jannik will be able to leave them in his suitcase. Discovered as a herbivore last year at Wimbledon, it is on the English tour that Sinner will and will be able to take back his tennis, his ranking, his career. Green will be an excellent tonic for red. That he returns to feel pleasure in doing what he does (even when he loses) is a fundamental step in the construction of an — evidently — immature player. This is a delicate moment for him, at a very sensitive age. Tennis, body, mind: the three basic ingredients of a vaguely crazy mayonnaise. Save the soldier Jannik, Cahill and Vagnozzi, because wasting this heritage would be like letting the Dolomites crumble without intervening. A crime against humanity.