Two Azzurri bigs risk exclusion from men’s singles at Paris Games

Two Azzurri bigs risk exclusion from the men's singles at the Paris Games

Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Sonego were protagonists in the past few days, Friday to be exact, of a fratricidal derby in the quarterfinals of the Marrakech ATP 250 and the winner was the Roman, who is returning to high performance levels after very difficult months due to the injury at the US Open.

Yet the two of them, according to a report in Corriere dello Sport, are incredibly at risk of being left out of the Azzurri team for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. Whyé? Becauseé after decades of frightening lean, in which men have been outclassed by their female colleagues as performers, Italian men’s tennis for at least a five-year period has suddenly found itself full of star players, and at the Games, between singles and doubles, according to Olympic regulations only six players per nation can go.

The four Italian singles players will be chosen according to the ranking called “Olympic Race” and the current one è this:

1) Jannik Sinner – 8,135 points
32) Lorenzo Musetti – 995 points
41) Matteo Arnaldi – 890 points
45) Luciano Darderi – 838 points
50) Flavio Cobolli – 755 points
65) Luca Nardi – 678 points
67) Lorenzo Sonego – 651 points
90) Matteo Berrettini – 545 points
103) Fabio Fognini – 507 points

So the foursome would consist of Sinner (and i would miss more), Musetti, Arnaldi and the up-and-coming Darderi. Sonego and Berrettini, as can be seen, are clearly detached. On June 10, when Roland Garros is over, the final rankings will be drawn up, and with three Masters 1000s and one Slam still to be played, all on clay, the situation could change considerably. But for now, for Berrettini and Sonego, the Olympic dream, at least as far as singles is concerned, è definitely far away.