Paolo Bertolucci intrigued by Jannik Sinner’s return

Paolo Bertolucci in the Gazzetta dello Sport is back to talk about Jannik Sinner: “There is one word that more than any other accompanies Jannik Sinner’s return to the field: curiosity. Ours. Curiosity to understand how the world’s strongest player will have overcome the most difficult three months of his life; and his own, to understand what the current level is in the newfound confrontation with his opponents, with the consideration that he was starting from a position of very considerable advantage, because the last year of the world number one bordered on absolute domination. What appeared at the press conference of the Internationals was a relaxed, smiling Sinner, certainly uplifted in the face of the closure of an affair that since March 2024 has undoubtedly subjected him to inhuman pressure”.

“So it is understandable that, at least in this first public outing, he has shown a different face than the fierce competitor we have been accustomed to seeing win on fields around the world: psychologically, no longer having to deal with the boulder of the doping case and all its possible implications has restored to him serenity and tranquility long unknown. Nor, on the other hand, could he be expected to indulge in bombastic statements about his most immediate goals: he more than anyone else, in fact, is aware of the absolute uniqueness of his situation. Never before, in fact, had a player of his level been out for so long due to non-injury-related problems, and while it means returning to the field with an absolutely clear mind, there remain the unknowns related to rediscovering his feeling for the ball and game rhythm”.

“It therefore falls perfectly within the norm, and shows great lucidity and maturity, to assert that the most important goal of this part of the season is Roland Garros: Rome and possibly Hamburg will have to allow him to regain his feeling for the competitive game, thinking about one match at a time. Although forced and at the beginning certainly suffered from a mental point of view, the absence of these three months may nevertheless have a balmy effect on the comeback path and on the continuation of the year and the career: because of the tight schedule and obviously because of the tension procured by the Clostebol affair, by his own admission Jannik needed a regenerative break. Of course, the time and manner he would have liked to have managed it himself, but I think the initial month without touching the racket, the choice not to watch tennis matches until Madrid, the soft start of preparation when he went back into training mode served him to detoxify, a decisive break to start again stronger than before. From what has been seen, heard, and read during his absence, Sinner and his team have set a comeback program perfectly aimed at gradual and complete, if not increased, recovery of the qualities that led him to be the strongest in the world. And the fear that the discovery of another world outside tennis, of another routine and other interests, will return us to a perhaps confused champion need not frighten: Jannik has the age, the talent, the intelligence and the hunger to attack all the Slams again with the panache of someone who at the end of his career will need double-digit numbers to count them”.