AGI – At Roland Garros, the most prestigious tournament in the world on clay, an exceptional Monday is expected for italtennis: Berrettini-Federer, Sinner-Nadal and Musetti-Djokovic, that is the ‘young’ Italy (in three they are 63 years old) against the Big Three, the tennis players they have dominated in an absolute sense the last twenty years of this sport (which in three years make 108!).
From the tennis point of view it is an unequal challenge for two thirds, with the rookie (in the Grand Slams) Musetti who has to challenge the number 1 in the world and Sinner who finds the king of red clay who must perform a sporting miracle – if it will be enough – to access the quarter-finals. Different speech for Berrettini: if Federer does not retire, as he ‘threatened’ at the end of the marathon he won on the night between Saturday and Sunday with Koepfer, the blue number 9 in the world will start as favorite against the Swiss who precedes him in the standings by one position but who is obviously still lagging behind in condition.
Jannik Sinner
Given the precedents and the great attention that Federer puts in his preparation, which has led him to the threshold of 40 years (he will turn it on August 8) to still be one of the strongest tennis players in the world, the Swiss will hardly risk compromising the tournament he cares about most in the world, Wimbledon, to face a match that on paper is very difficult and very tiring for him. Furthermore, in his time schedule he had not planned to arrive at the second week of Paris ..
© ANGELO CARCONI / POOL / AFP
Lorenzo Musetti
That said, there is still the fascination of a generational challenge in which for once Italy is the protagonist with three blue tennis players – who for the first time are in the round of 16 in Paris since the Open Era (i.e. open to both amateurs and professionals, Roland Garros was the first of the four Grand Slam tournaments to become open, ed) – which, in perspective, could give our country great satisfaction, with Berrettini already a reality (now firmly in the top 10) and the two terrible 19-year-olds Sinner and Musetti ready for the big leap. For these two if this is not the right time, there will certainly be opportunities in the future. For Berrettini, however, the landing in the quarters is much more than a hope.
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