Sinner, what have you been up to? By now it’s for all to see, and even he can take note of it as soon as possible
If he had been born 7 kilometers further away, he would be Austrian and not Italian. And the Bel Paese would not have, today, the honor of being represented by one of the strongest tennis players in the new generation. It was a close call, in short. And it turned out well, so well that better than that we just couldn’t.
He belongs to the mountains of Trentino, Jannik Sinner, who among those peaks and valleys first learned to ski, then to tame yellow balls by using his racket. He comes home whenever he can because family, he has never hidden it, is the most precious thing he has. More precious than the trophies he has racked up around the world and even than that salad bowl, pulled up for the occasion, that he raised to the sky last Sunday at the end of the Davis Cup final. There is nothing that matters more than Mom Siglinde and Dad Hansepeter. And brother Mike, of course, with whom he spends much of his – albeit little – free time.
And it is to Sexten that he will return in these hours, to relax a little after an eventful season that has been very demanding in terms of physical and mental energy. He will not be able to stay there very long, because winter preparation beckons and the Australian Open is already around the corner. But he will have plenty of time to see for himself, fortunately, what he has “been up to” these past months.
Sinner pride of place: “A diamond in the middle of the sea “
Thanks to his epic feats, Sinner has become a world-renowned phenomenon. Everyone knows where he comes from, though, which is why there is a phone ringing off the hook in recent days.
It is that of his region’s tourism promotion company, as revealed by Corriere del Trentino: “We are getting calls from Italy and abroad from many of our visitors to congratulate us,” the president said, “Jannik is a great ambassador for our country. He is a true champion; we were lucky. It’s like having found a diamond in the middle of the sea. And we found him in Sesto.”
An incredible and cost-free publicity, then, for Südtirol, which in all this has gained an ambassador worthy of the name and perfectly representative of the values proper to this unspoiled corner of Italy.