Jannik Sinner is a tennis star. In Italy, his celebrity transcends his sport
TURIN, Italy — Olé, olé olé olé, sinner, sinner.
Olé, olé olé olé, sinner, sinner.
Jannik Sinner tries to say something, but his own name sounds too loud in the Inalpi Arena in Turin. Illuminated on billboards, written on signs and sung throughout the aisles. The first Italian to achieve the men’s world No. 1 ranking, Sinner is not just the draw of the ATP Tour Finals tournament in his home country: he is the tournament, on and off the court.
There it is on billboards in the train station. There he is on banners hanging from light poles. There he is – well, not him, a character of his – on GialappaShow, a satirical comedy program in the vein of Saturday Night Live, which features skits featuring Sinner’s red-haired poodle and his meticulously even manner of speaking.
And there he is on the field, blowing away virtually everyone who isn’t Carlos Alcaraz, as he has done for most of the year, slaloming into the semifinals with three wins from three and the noise of about 12,000 fans surrounding his ears at every point.
Three years ago, despite flashes of brilliance, Sinner had more or less stagnated in tennis’ no man’s land.
Two years ago he was a work in progress who failed to reach the season-ending Tour final here in Turin, the city that should have been his northern Italian playground.
A year ago he lost to Novak Djokovic in the final but defeated him along the way, loudly hinting at what might happen. Alcaraz said he was the next No. 1.
This year he fulfilled that prophecy: he is number 1 in the world and perhaps the most popular athlete in Italy – a country that does not have much sporting oxygen left when football sucks the hose.
“It’s different,” Sinner said Tuesday as he competed on home soil for the first time in almost a year.
“I never take these opportunities for granted.”
Jannik Sinner doesn’t really have to ask the Italian audience for more noise. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Italy has a long and illustrious conveyor belt of football stars. Major figures in other sports, especially those who can penetrate the consciousness of people who hardly pay attention to sports, are much rarer. But the country does have a way to rally strongly around its Olympic champions and luminaries in other sports.
For years, motorcyclist Valentino Rossi and then swimmer Federica Pellegrini were all the rage. People who have never clipped on a ski binding know all about Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic downhill champion. Sinner is the newest of their number, and perhaps the most beloved. Inter Milan played Napoli on Sunday in a showdown between two of Italy’s biggest football clubs. The match attracted 1.7 million television viewers in Italy. Sinner’s match against Australia’s Alex de Minaur, hardly a glamor match, drew 2.27 million.
Tennis stars in their home country are always a draw, but perhaps because he is the first Italian number 1, or perhaps because of that unmistakable mop of red hair, Sinner seems to be on a different level in Italy. While his steady, understated demeanor anchors his play of grace and fury, one of those strange alchemical combinations of a star and a nation catalyzes match after match.
Young and old are on board for the ride. He is what the Italians call ‘fuoriclasse’, which roughly translates as out of this world, or world class. He is one of the ‘predestinato’, predestined, as it were, for greatness.
“He’s young, but not young in the way he plays,” said Turin native Federico Vangha, who was sipping Aperol sprites Tuesday night with his girlfriend, another crazy Sinner fan named Monica Merlo.
Sinner walks on duck’s feet and doesn’t seem to own a comb or hairdryer. His transformation from nobody’s idea of a Gucci model to, well, a Gucci model also makes him different. When he’s not playing tennis, he’s now pitching: Gucci, Head, Nike, Rolex, La Roche-Posay, the pharmaceutical company, Internet service provider Fastweb, Enervit, a food company, and Pigna, a paper products company. The deal with Nike is for $158 million (£125.2 million) over ten years; the annual value of his off-field deals is around $15 million (£11.9 million).
He also has a deal with pasta company De Cecco and Italian coffee magnate Lavazza. During the substitutions, his opponents don’t even get a break. Video screens play commercial after commercial, Sinner drinks an espresso or pushes Intesa Sanpaolo, the financial giant.
The madness started with the “Carota Boys,” the group of young men who will apparently spare no expense to travel to a Sinner match in a carrot costume in honor of that flaming red hair. At his games this week, the crowd was littered with fans wearing fluorescent orange. Their shirts glow in the blue light of the Inalpi Arena, while the carrot and fox emojis – his other symbol – glow orange on every social media platform.
Jannik Sinner with his trophy for being number 1 in the world at the end of the year. (Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
Italian players who are not even participating in the tournament come to watch the matches. Lorenzo Sonego, Sinner’s Davis Cup teammate, was on court last night.
Everyone else, including the other seven competitors, are the supporting cast, even Alcaraz.
“Exactly what I expected here in Turin,” De Minaur said at a press conference after Sinner defeated him 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday. “Great atmosphere.”
Taylor Fritz said the Italian faithful had a lot to deal with, but not too much. He has had a number of run-ins with a rowdy crowd that pulled its weight, especially against Frenchmen at the French Open. This wasn’t that.
“Fun match to play,” he said, even though he lost in straight sets.
Ubiquity comes at a cost, especially at home. Sinner has given up hope of having a cup of coffee or a meal this week. There is always a horde of fans outside the players’ hotel in the middle of the city. He wouldn’t get far. It is better to stay indoors and rest. At least that’s what he tells himself as fans line up to catch a glimpse of a man who is a hero to them as much for his person as for his tennis.
“It’s important that he’s No. 1, but it’s who he is,” said Francesco Baccarani, a 12-year-old player who arrived at the Sinner-Fritz match wearing a red, white and green headdress. “He is the example for all of us kids of how we want to play.”
GO DEEPER
Sinner confirmed as world number 1 at the end of the year after losing to Alcaraz in Shanghai
Sinner is only 23. This could continue for a long time, especially with the ATP close to a new five-year deal with the Italian Tennis Federation, which would keep the tour’s richest event until 2029.
Angelo Binaghi, the president of the Italian tennis federation FITP, said in an interview in Turin that Sinner had exploded something that was already happening – a growing interest in tennis. His rise coincided with the expansion of a free-to-air tennis channel in Italy, SuperTennis, which even offers the US Open. Conveniently, Sinner won that one, and many less privileged Italians who might not have been able to pay for television were able to see it.
Now Binaghi has another problem: accessibility. There are not enough tennis schools and clinics to accommodate all the children who want to play, and building new tennis courts and facilities will take time.
“The bureaucracy,” he said, harking back to the infamous Italian lament. “It’s very difficult.”
Yet Sinner is also the answer to Italian tennis prayers in other ways. A few years ago, it looked like Matteo Berrettini and his hammer-like serve might have a shot at the top. In 2021 he reached the Wimbledon final.
Danillo Baccarani, Francesco’s father, said Berrettini’s power play does not appeal to Italian tennis sensibilities as much as Sinner’s. Enter tennis hero Nicola Pietrangeli, the star of the 1950s and 1960s known for his stylish and instinctive play.
“Sinner is closer to someone like (Roger) Federer,” Baccarani said.
And what about the idea that Sinner is somehow less Italian because he comes from the mountains of San Candido in northeastern Italy, near the Austrian border, which is culturally closer to its neighbor than to Rome ? Sinner’s first language is German.
“A stupid idea,” Baccarani said.
Sinner has managed to turn this into an advantage. Due to the departure of Dominic Thiem, Austria is without a tennis star. The country has made some claims on Sinner.
All the fuss is a bit of an idiot for him.
“I’m just a 23-year-old man who only plays tennis,” he said at a press conference earlier this week. He walks outside and sees a huge version of himself on a billboard. He turns on the television and makes coffee. His father was a chef. His mother was a restaurant worker. He was supposed to become a skier.
Jannik Sinner has taken on the mantle of Italy’s most beloved sportsman, at least outside of football. (Tallio Puglia/Getty Images)
“I’m trying to get used to it,” he said. “I just try to play good tennis.”
Aside from the arrival of another hotshot alongside Alcaraz, there’s one thing that could throw the Sinner train off course. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is seeking a one- or two-year ban in its appeal against its doping case, which it filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in September.
Earlier this year, Sinner tested positive twice for clostebol, an anabolic steroid. Three tribunals convened by tennis’ anti-doping authorities accepted his explanation that the substance accidentally entered his system after his physiotherapist used it to treat a cut on his own finger and then gave Sinner a massage. WADA also accepts this explanation, but believes that he should bear some responsibility for the actions of his support team.
Clostebol has become a problem in Italian sports, with numerous athletes in various disciplines testing positive as a result of using healing creams. Memories linger of the doping scandal at Juventus from the 1990s, which went to the highest level of the Old Lady of Turin.
Sinner’s verdict probably won’t come until 2025, and even in Turin it’s lost in the noise from point to point until, at least so far, the inevitable conclusion.
Gioco, partita, incontro, Sinner.
And the olés strike again.
(Top Photos: Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton)
(Additional reporting: James Horncastle)
