Sinner beats Djokovic and makes Italy dream: Bergonzi’s comment in the Gazzetta

Everyone is crazy about Sinner. We, crazy about this boy who is climbing the Everest of tennis with the speed of the predestined. If today we are playing for the silver salad bowl, one of the most iconic trophies in sport, the credit goes above all to him. Jannik Sinner put Davis’ Italy on his shoulders and took them to the final against the fearsome Australia. And to do it he had to sign another great little page of history. Yesterday Sinner beat Novak Djokovic, the Cannibal, for the second time (in 12 days…). Even more: he beat him twice on the same day (in singles and doubles!). And for those who love observing those details that make a masterpiece, Jannik is the first “human” to beat Nole after canceling three consecutive match points. Not even Federer and Nadal, nobody. That’s right…

The Serbian number 1 in the world, that monster capable of winning 24 Slams and 7 ATP Finals, had never lost after failing three balls in a row to close the match. In the end, in sporting despair, Djokovic apologized to his Serbia teammates by saying “It’s my fault!”. We’re sorry Nole, but we prefer to see the other side of the coin. We think that the duel was led by the blue, we think that the three match points were canceled thanks to Sinner who has heart and head on par with his class. In the most difficult moment, when he found himself with his back against the wall, one step away from hell, the blue made the strongest tennis player ever swallow five consecutive points. The inertia of the match was reversed and Sinner, in confidence, launched himself into an overwhelming sprint to once again defeat a Djokovic who looked like a dull copy of himself. The roles have magically reversed and Jannik has become as ruthless as Nole usually is! Davis’ power, or maybe Panatta is right when he says tennis was invented by the devil. If you make the mistake of feeling like you’re in heaven he can quickly fall into hell. And viceversa. The fact is that Sinner, having received his success against number 1, continued to have fun paired with his friend Sonego to beat a dazed Djokovic who was paired with Kecmanovic.

Sonego, alongside Jannik, took on his opponents and their insecurities while the blue curve got excited and punctuated every winning point with shouts and raised fists. So that the little blue train, dragged by the Sinner locomotive, has reached a final that we have missed for 25 years and can dream of a historic success that we achieved only once in Chile, 47 years ago. And that 1976 success reminds us of one of the most beautiful, most iconic pages of Italian sport. Nicola Pietrangeli, the non-playing captain, led the group which had a leader like Adriano Panatta, our D’Artagnan, and three musketeers like Barazzutti, Bertolucci and Zugarelli. That group went down in history as “The Team”. And we are thrilled to think that Sinner could today reconnect the thread of the legend. He will find himself against Alex De Minaur, the Australian against whom he played and won the Next Gen final, in Milan in 2019. It was the first of a series of appointments with destiny. We hope that this afternoon’s challenge will be another (winning) stage in his journey. Sinner has everything to become, sooner or later, the number 1 in his sport. This has been an extraordinary year for him and for our tennis. Jannik deserves to lift the Salad Bowl, a trophy worthy of his talent. It would help us to remember that this was the Davis of Sinner, but also of Sonego, of Arnaldi and Musetti, of the first fan Berrettini and of “captain” Volandri. That group of friends that is the new “Team”. The devil may have invented tennis, but if there is a god of tennis he supports Jannik.