Sinner, on the accusations made in these hours many are converging: the responsibility is virtually all his.
We should all agree, regardless of our tennis faith, that Novak Djokovic is not the same. The fact that he has yet to win a title since the beginning of the year says it, but the way he exited the scene at the Internazionali d’Italia confirms it. Without a fight, something he has always done instead and that, even, has distinguished him from the moment he entered the professional circuit.
An objectively downward parabola, his, whose reasons could be various and diverse. Some blame the age factor: certainly Nole is no longer a youngster, but it cannot be said that he is not incredibly fit. In fact, he is more so than champions who, right now, are doing crazy things on the court. Others believe that breaking away from Goran Ivanisevic was an unforgivable mistake and that without him at the helm Djokovic’s “boat” is at the mercy of the waves.
Even this explanation, to tell the truth, leaves much to be desired. The Serb’s negative period began even before the farewell to his long-time coach, which is why his performance cannot be blamed solely and exclusively on this detachment, which certainly did not help his situation anyway. Then there is Paolo Bertolucci’s analysis, as ruthless as it is likely, which appeared in the editorial the former tennis player wrote for Gazzetta dello Sport.
Djokovic at a crossroads: is Sinner involved
“Quite different (from that of Rafael Nadal, about whom he had written just before, ed.) the setback of Djokovic, a player who yesterday showed himself frequently arrogant, little respect for the opponent and the public, nervous as few times in his career. If the problem was his physical condition, he has only himself to blame. “
“Ever since he got his hand on his team,” Bertolucci added, “first by divorcing Ivanisevic, then by completely disrupting it, and ever since he was run down by Sinner, the Serb has not been able to put together a good level match. It was logical to expect to find him in better shape after two weeks of hard work. Roland Garros is two weeks away, but the situation is much uglier than one might have expected. As the great champion that he is, he should have remembered that audience and opponent always deserve a different attitude.”
A slice of responsibility would also lie with Jannik, then, who, in fact, has repeatedly managed to get him into trouble over the past few months. And who knows how Nole will react, should the Italian manage to take away his No. 1 scepter as well…
