BOLZANO. We’ll say it right away. We are with Jannik. Not because we root for Sinner. But why we cheer for sport. Sinner – or, rather, his staff – committed an enormous negligence.
We must also be clear on this: it should never have come into contact with Clostebol. But anyone who knows Jannik, and this newspaper has reported on him since he was a boy, cannot fail to be convinced of his good faith, also certified by three technical reports which led to the acquittal now contested by Wada.
Above all, there is a “curriculum” made up not only of extraordinary victories, but of many gestures of a true sportsman. Unnecessary, but spontaneous gestures: like holding the umbrella for the ball boy in the rain at Indian Wells. Or to correct the referee on a point in his favor by giving it instead to his opponent Kokkinakis in Cincinnati. Or again, how can we forget it, that of the touching dedication to his sick aunt immediately after his recent triumph at the US Open. Jannik is this.
“A nice person”, “a good boy”, as his fellow villagers from Sesto, who saw him grow, describe him. Of course, not everyone sees it that way. Starting with some of his fellow tennis players. Djokovic and Alcaraz were not kind towards him immediately after the Clostebol affair became public knowledge. Others – such as the “bad boy” of tennis Nick Kyrgios – have used words of condemnation, stating that a different yardstick of judgment was used for Jannik compared to others. The Tas will decide on the merits.
However, we can already give a first opinion: the young career of Jannik Sinner – a boy who at not even 23 years old found himself on the top of world tennis – was a hymn to sportsmanship. Can lightness erase all this? The risk is there. But we are rooting for Jannik. We support sports.
2024-10-01 13:09:07