Adriano Panatta takes a jab at Jannik Sinner after his withdrawal: “There’s one thing that makes me laugh a little…”
Former Italian tennis player Adriano Panatta, speaking on “Domenica Sportiva,” commented on Jannik Sinner’s decision to withdraw from the U.S. Open, as he has not fully recovered from the knee injury that has been plaguing him for several weeks. The Italian, who has been sidelined since Wimbledon, had previously skipped the Masters 1000 tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati.
“I didn’t expect this; clearly, he’s not at his best yet, and he’s had some bad experiences playing while injured. This time he didn’t want to take any chances,” noted Panatta, who then couldn’t resist a little joke. “The thing that makes me laugh a bit is that all tennis players say, ‘I listened to my body…’ If I listened to mine, I wouldn’t even get out of bed in the morning.”
Getting serious again, Panatta then pointed to playing style as the number one culprit behind the many injuries suffered by top players: “It matters a lot; Nadal, for example, had a more aggressive and explosive style than Federer, who was the god of tennis. Djokovic also had a more flexible physique and smoother shots, so he had fewer injuries.”
“But we’re talking about too many injuries here—aside from Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, we’ve had Rune, Berrettini, Musetti, and Fritz, all top-ten players with serious injuries. Something isn’t working; I think it’s the style of play that forces you to push too hard.”
This theory is echoed by Diego Nargiso, a former Italian tennis player and current commentator for Supertennis, who offered a technical analysis of Sinner’s issue. “I have the feeling this is an issue he’s been dealing with for a while,” he told Quotidiano Nazionale. “He’s one of the main ‘imitators’ of Djokovic when it comes to formidable recoveries and slides on hard courts. It’s a style of play that progressively causes microtraumas. Since Sinner isn’t among the most muscular players on the tour, he clearly tends to suffer this type of joint damage more.”
Sinner’s former coach, Riccardo Piatti, placed the issue in a broader context, pointing the finger at the unsustainable pace of the modern tour. “I believe these injuries and these long layoffs stem from the schedule, which has changed compared to the past. Now we need to be smart and make the right choices for the calendar. These tennis players can’t play all year round,” he told RAI. “There’s a lot of money in tennis and a lot of media attention, so tournament directors—and even spectators—start to get restless if they don’t see these champions on the court. But Sinner and Alcaraz need to think about their future: if they want to have a very long career, they must be able to find a balance outside of tennis as well; otherwise, after two or three years, they’ll burn out and either quit or lose the desire to play.”
