Mama Siglinde Sinner is Florenzi’s new grandmother
Mama Siglinde’s gesture during the final won by Jannik Sinner at the Internazionali d’Italia was reminiscent, in emotional intensity, of scenes that have remained iconic in Italian sports. In the last points of the match against Casper Ruud, with the Foro Italico’s Centrale ready to explode with joy, the mother of the Italian number one lowered her gaze and covered her face, overwhelmed with emotion while next to her dad Hanspeter followed every exchange with bated breath.
An image that immediately went around the web, just as it happened in 2014 with Alessandro Florenzi and the famous hug to his grandmother after the goal scored in Roma-Cagliari. In that case, too, it was the authenticity of the moment that won everyone over: real, spontaneous emotions, capable of going beyond the simple sports result and of remaining imprinted in the collective memory of the fans.
In the stands, next to the parents, there was also Laila Hasanovic, the Danish model and Jannik’s fiancée, to complete the picture of a family that lived each point as if it were the last. A tournament, the one in Rome, already charged with emotional tension for the Sinners even before the final: during the semifinal against Daniil Medvedev, played at the turn of Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, mother Siglinde had had to leave the Central Court after the second set, too tried to see her son physically suffer on the court. A sensitivity that, evidently, knows no respite even when Jannik triumphs.
The champion himself, when asked about the subject during his guest appearance by Fabio Fazio on Che Tempo che fa on Channel Nine, commented on his mother’s gesture with an affectionate joke and a smile: “The problem is that I could see her from the court, it’s difficult. But it’s already so much that she stayed there….” Words that tell, better than any analysis, the special relationship that binds the world number one to his family and the all-too-human awareness of how those stands can be an even more difficult place than the field.
The triumphant day at the Foro Italico had already given another moment destined to remain in the collective memory: during the award ceremony, in the presence of President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and Adriano Panatta – the last Italian to have won in Rome before him, back in 1976 – Sinner had addressed the Head of State, calling him “Mr. Mattarella” instead of President. Mattarella himself had smiled with gusto at the little slip of the tongue, while the audience encouraged the champion not to be overwhelmed by emotion. It was a scene that confirmed how, off the court, Sinner remains a very normal guy, capable of getting as excited and embarrassed as anyone else.
On a sporting level, the success in the Internazionali d’Italia represented Sinner’s sixth consecutive Masters 1000 – after Paris 2025, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid – making him the first tennis player since Rafael Nadal, who achieved it in 2010, to win all three Masters 1000s on clay in the same year. A feat that also earned him entry into a very exclusive club: that of tennis players capable of completing the Career Golden Masters, or winning each of the nine tournaments in the category at least once. Before him, the only one who had ever achieved this feat was Novak Djokovic, who on social media did not fail to celebrate his young colleague with an eloquent message: “Congratulations Jannik, you are impressive. Welcome to this exclusive club.”
