The no.1 already in Turin for the ATP Finals and protagonist of “Jannik, beyond tennis” broadcast tomorrow on Sky: “This country deserves much more, even than what I’m doing”
“I am proud to be Italian, happy to have been born here and not in Austria, or elsewhere. This country deserves much better, even than what I am doing.” A few days before the start of the Nitto ATP Finals Jannik Sinner spoke about himself in the fourth chapter of “Jannik, beyond tennis”, the heart-to-heart interview with the world number 1 conducted by the director of Sky Sport Federico Ferri and broadcast from 8.45pm tomorrow on Sky Sport Tennis and Now. “Because we have the structures, we have the coaches, we have the players, we have many different mentalities. Which are also our strength: some say that Alto Adige is different, Sicily is totally different, but it is also our luck, the strength in the differences, yes. So we have everything to be there to compete against the best in the world and in my opinion we must unite, stay together and give ourselves strength to have as many trophies and as much pride as possible, because in my opinion Italy deserves it.”
the idols
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In the interview carried out on a set set up at the Candiolo Institute for cancer research and treatment, in the province of Turin, in front of an audience of patients, researchers and doctors from the hospital and in the presence of the president of the Piedmontese Foundation for cancer research, Allegra Agnelli, Sinner spoke about his first idol “it was Andreas Seppi. Then later, when I got into tennis a bit, he became Roger Federer, then I met Rafa Nadal and I said: humanly he is incredible. Then I met Nole and I said: he is incredible at what he does. But then you realize that we are people who don’t change the world. Instead, today we are sitting here and you (addressing the audience of researchers and doctors of the Candiano Institute) make the difference, you who manage to give a life or solve problems that seem impossible.
the choice
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Jannik also explained how the decision not to play the Davis Cup finals came about. “At the end of the season, with all the pressure, the matches played, the emotions, both when you have won and after a defeat, it takes a long time to put all things back together. And especially at the end of the season, a week is really a long time for us athletes. If you have an extra week of preparation, apart from the fact that you have an extra week of holiday and you arrive in preparation stronger, more recharged, with more energy and above all with more desire. We play tennis every day and so sometimes you don’t have much desire… but if you start the load weeks a week before, because it’s not like you start a thousand from the first day, those are very important, especially for the start of the season but also in the long term and for the prevention of injuries. So for me this year there wasn’t the slightest doubt that this was the right choice [non giocare la finale Davis]. However, last year was different: last year I didn’t play in Paris, I said “I want to play the Davis Cup” and they held me back a bit, in my team, but I said “no, this year I want to play because I promised it to Berrettini when we won in 2023, when he was there to support us and we won, I hugged him and said to him “I promise you that we will win the next Davis Cup together, because you deserve it and we are an incredible team” and we won it. Then from there I had already decided that in 2025 I would definitely not play.”
trust
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For the Finals in Bologna Sinner asks to have a little more faith in Italy: “The thing that I personally don’t like is that we have an incredible team even without me and nobody talks about it. We have to give up the number 26 in the world, who at the moment is Darderi, we can allow ourselves not to call up the number 26 in the world in the Davis Cup because there is Cobolli, there is Musetti, there are many others: we have an incredible doubles team! We can also win so, we have Berrettini himself, and therefore the possibility of winning the Davis Cup is high.” Now his mind is all on the ATP Finals scheduled from 9 to 16 November.
La Gazzetta dello Sport
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