Sinner has succeeded where Nole, on the other hand, has failed: this Turin backstory is truly incredible.
Facing the world number 1 3 times in the space of 2 weeks is pure science fiction. Or rather, it would be for everyone but not for Jannik Sinner, who will also face the same opponent in the Davis Cup semifinals that prevented him from crowning his dream of winning the Finals in Turin.
It will be a sort of “tiebreaker,” if you will, since he and Novak Djokovic have won one match apiece over the past 10 days or so. With nothing “personal” at stake, but with a boundless desire to give their national team access to the final act of the team competition. Hard to predict how this will go, the two being now in a state of substantial balance. We know for certain, however, thanks to statements circulated in recent hours, that Sinner has succeeded where Nole, on the other hand, has “failed.”
And this time it has nothing to do with tennis, which is also the common denominator between the Italian and the Serb. It’s about a matter of an entirely different nature that might even bring a smile to your face because it is paradoxical.
Sinner is having a ball: no place for Nole
Just as there is a kind of headquarters where all the Masters competing at the Finals stay during the prestigious tournament, there is also a restaurant in Turin that is quite popular with the tennis players taking part. The same establishment of which Cristiano Ronaldo, in the days of his Juventus adventure, was a practically regular guest.
The chef of this reunion of champions, Davide Fiore, told Gazzetta dello Sport several interesting anecdotes related, precisely, to the edition we have just left behind. One of them concerns precisely the two athletes who did battle in the final last Sunday, namely Sinner and Djokovic. And when we say that Jannik succeeded where Nole failed, we are really referring to something that has to do with the well-known Turin venue.
Sinner dined there several times, as the chef recounted, while the maître was forced, despite himself, to refuse the reservation of the world number 1. “Unfortunately,” Fiore told the sports daily, “we were full this year when he had us call to make a reservation, so I was very sorry never to have him for dinner. Djokovic, however, has come in the past, during previous editions of the Atp Finals.” No favoritism, as it should be. Not even for one best tennis player in the history of tennis in memory.
