Bertolucci: “Sinner will need some time. But it’s already more peaceful”

There is a word that more than any other accompanies the return to the field of Jannik Sinner: curiosity. Our. The curiosity to understand how the strongest player in the world will have exceeded the three most difficult months of his life; And his, to understand what the current level is in the newfound confrontation with the opponents, with the consideration that starts from a position of very remarkable advantage, because the last year of the number one in the world has shaved absolute domination. What presented himself to the press conference of the International has appeared a relaxed, smiling Sinner, certainly raised in the face of the closure of a story that since March 2024 has certainly subjected him to a inhuman pressure.

Therefore it is understandable that, at least in this first public release, it has shown a different face than that of the ferocious agonist that we have been used to seeing winning on fields all over the world: psychologically, no longer having to do with the boulder of the doping case and with all its possible implications has returned to him serenity and tranquility for some time unknown. And on the other hand, one could not even expect that he would let himself go to bombastic statements regarding the most immediate objectives: he more than any other, in fact, is aware of the absolute particularity of his situation. It had never happened, in fact, that a player of his level had remained out so long for problems not linked to an injury, and if on the one hand it means returning to the field with the absolutely clearing mind, on the other the unknowns remain relating to the rediscovery of the feeling with the ball and the pace that started.

Therefore, it is perfectly in the norm, and demonstrates great lucidity and maturity, the affirmation that the most important goal of this part of the season is Roland Garros: Rome and possibly Hamburg will have to allow him to recover the feeling with competitiveness, thinking of one game at a time. Although forced and at the beginning certainly suffered from a mental point of view, the absence of these three months will still be able to have a balsamic effect on the return path and on the continuation of the year and career: for the dense calendar and obviously for the tension procured by the clostebol affair, by his own admission Jannik needed a regenerating break. Of course, the times and the ways would have liked to manage them, but I believe that the initial month without touching the racket, the choice of not looking at tennis matches to Madrid, the soft start of the preparation when he returned to training mode served him to detoxify, a decisive detachment to start stronger than before. From what has been seen, heard and read during his absence, Sinner and his team have set a program for the return perfectly targeted to the gradual and complete recovery, if not even increased, of the qualities that led him to be the strongest in the world. And he must not scare the fear that the discovery of another world outside of tennis, another routine and other interests, gives us a champion perhaps confused: Jannik is age, talent, intelligence and hunger to attack all the slams again with the look of those who at the end of the career will need dual figures to count them.