Sinner, the call came through an interview: no more delay.
Could they, the Azzurri, have done better than they did during this 2024? Definitely not. The results, after all, speak for themselves, and they tell us that, with the help of Jannik Sinner’s boom, the entire Italian movement has cut milestones that, until some time ago, would have been absolutely unimaginable.
And it is precisely on the basis of this that someone has rightly decided to raise his voice and claim more attention to the sport that, in these 12 months, has made everyone dream, indiscriminately, from North to South, passing through the Center and the islands. That someone is Angelo Binaghi, who on the strength of what has happened in recent months felt it was time to “beat the drum.”
The president of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, in fact, through an interview with Il Foglio, thought well of launching a heartfelt appeal. He took advantage of the double victory in the Davis Cup and in the Billie Jean King Cup to emphasize that it is time for tennis to enjoy, at last, the same consideration that it deserves, already for some time, soccer. Not by the fans, who have begun to follow Sinner and teammates with great self-sacrifice, but by television.
Tuona Binaghi, Rai at a crossroads: Sinner & Co. are involved.
The two team competitions will be broadcast, for the next 4 years, by SuperTennis, the Federation’s television station, but Binaghi said he is ready, eventually, to share the rights to the two events with Mamma Rai. There is one condition, however, on which the Fitp president does not intend to waver.
“Our purpose is not commercial but popular, but we ask for attention. We have our channel and if Rai doesn’t give us the right answers we will offer beautiful tennis on our thematic channel… More tennis on the flagship network, Rai 1, and not on Rai 2. I only ask for equal opportunities with the national soccer team. I can no longer stand that tennis is considered a minor sport by Rai. It is not. The ratings prove it.”
“We have always offered our availability,” Binaghi continued, ”We have met the requests and even agreed on match times for the Internazionali di Roma […] The new Sinner must see tennis on public TV and not on pay TV. Tennis is as popular as soccer, Rai understands that. The damage is to the country. I ask for a free-to-air window, a real showcase, for the matches. I want the Slam finals,” he concluded, ‘to be able to be watched by kids who love tennis. ’
