Jannik Sinner, it was worth waiting a decade or so: it happened when no one believed it was possible anymore.
It’s been 11 years since the day Mario Balotelli, among the most-attended soccer talents of the past decade, found out that a very prestigious star magazine had included him within an even more exclusive ranking of global caliber. Time had included him in the top 100 most influential people of 2013, an accolade he had deserved and of which he was, needless to say, honored.
From then on, no sportsman was ever again considered by Time, the famous New York magazine that is always on the lookout for the hottest and most on-trend personalities. We no longer hoped, then, that the Big Apple would decide to give the Bel Paese an encore. Until, to interrupt that negative trend, came someone who a place in that ranking has sweated and earned it.
It should be clear that it is Jannik Sinner we are talking about, the pride of Italian fans and not only. The very talented South Tyrolean has been on top of the world for several months now, which is why it would have been foolish and untruthful not to include him in the list of the most influential people of the current year, now well past the halfway mark. And lo and behold, as if by magic, we found him inside Time 100 Next 2024, in the company of 99 other stars of the world stage.
Sinner, mission accomplished: only 100 make it
Times, more specifically, took care to put him in the category of Phenomena, which includes, in addition to the No. 1 tennis player, Summer McIntosh, the first woman to break the 4-minute, 25-second mark in the 400-meter medley, C. J. Strouf, NFL championship quarterback, and Llona Maher, the rugby player who won Olympic bronze in Paris.
Flattering is the way Time justified Jannik’s presence in this ranking: they chose him, it says in the piece authored by Sean Gregory, “for winning his first two Slam tournaments this year and rising to No. 1 in the world.” “His challenges with Alcaraz,” the magazine further reads, ”who won the other two Slam events, could fuel men’s tennis for the next decade.
Another accolade to be proud of, in short, adding to the records, firsts and all the awards Sinner has already received in this extraordinary start to his career.