Jannik Sinner getting bigger: statue on the way and Rome as fifth Slam?

Jannik Sinner has sent Italian tennis into orbit as never before in history. The South Tyrolean outfielder in this 2025 triumphed for the first time at Wimbledon, won the Finals again, and reconfirmed at the Australian Open. He also inspired Italy&#8217s long domination in the Davis Cup, with the Azzurri pulling off a crazy hat trick even without his leadership. Federtennis president Angelo Binaghi makes no secret of his satisfaction with the discipline&#8217s golden moment.

Martino Davidi

“In terms of results I would be satisfied with one-fifth of what we have achieved in the last two years – Binaghi said in an interview with Libero -. Sinner always responds with results and silences everyone. Let certain pundits speak for themselves: we have known Sinner since he was a child. He deserves a real statue” he even went so far as to propose Binaghi, who did not comment instead on Sinner’s return in the next Davis Cup. “Whether he will play next year I do not know, we hope so”.

“But we have shown that we can win Davis even without the best tennis player in the world. It is an unrepeatable moment for our sport”, said Binaghi proudly. Italy could even go so far as to propose Rome as the fifth Grand Slam tournament: “Three basic requirements are needed: top Italian tennis, and today it is; strong international credibility, which we can also boast thanks to Gaudenzi at the helm of the ATP; and finally, an investment that would in any case be significantly less than that incurred for Milan-Cortina”.

Binaghi set the’goal for 2026: “The dream would be to win in Rome in the men”s field: it hasn”t happened for 50 years, it was 1976”. The numbers of homegrown tennis: “The data speak. Those of card-carrying members count relatively, although ours, which have doubled in three years, last year numbered 1,085,901 against 1,121,495 of those in soccer”.

“It’s the number of practitioners that is exhilarating: ours in tennis and padel, according to the latest Nielsen data, are 6,237,000 and catching up with those in soccer: 6,533,000. Five years ago soccer was clearly ahead, there’was a 39%” difference.