ATP Finals 2024: the year of Jannik Sinner, cars between glory and suspicion | Tennis | Sport

Even though the large pie was distributed fairly, two majors for him and the other two for Carlos Alcaraz, the ending course finally highlights one name: that of Jannik Sinner, the protagonist at the beginning of the course in Australia, then in mid-summer – when the double positive was discovered by five a few months ago, during the Indian Wells tournament , in March – and now in the epilogue of a radical year for number one, who poses triumphantly with the Masters trophy (6-4 double against Taylor Fritz) and completes a magnificent body of work – more titles (8) and triumphs (70) than any other – contrasting with the shadow of doping that has not yet dissipated. Awaiting a decision, after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the original verdict and asked for a sentence of up to two years, he raises his hands in triumph. He puts them down too and waits.

Heaven and hell for the Sinner, from top to bottom and from bottom to top, waiting to know his fate and surrounded by success as well as angst, considering that the decision could be made at any moment, and this despite the fact that he claims that it is very Not worry that he hasn’t done anything illegal and that the trial has proven him right so far, that’s the threat. Sooner or later the balance will tip in one direction or another. “Now I know who my friends really are,” repeats the resident of San Candido, “ makchina″, is compared with Turin, which in the year of its explosion adopted a single path, a constant dynamic from beginning to end: to win, win and win. It all started like a shot in Melbourne, that first parade was the harbinger, and from there it hasn’t stopped: Rotterdam, Miami, Halle, Cincinnati, US Open, Shanghai, and now this Masters Cup, where he answered no one. . Fritz too. The American, like many others who have suffered from this, is again suffering from roller exercises.

He completes the Sinner route without missing a single stage, flawlessly, in the overwhelming line-up of this season, in which only Alcaraz managed to be familiar with him. The rest is flies, which he swats away with this tennis of aggression and control, with a frantic pace that reminds us of the freshness of Novak Djokovic, when the Serb devoured the rest in the heat of exchanges of blows. But today the one who crushes and rules is he, the 23-year-old, redhead from the mountains, who took first place in June and continues to progress, distancing himself from everyone – 3915 points above Alexander Zverev and 4820 from the Murcian – and consolidating himself as a man , which must be defeated as the most regular, as a guarantee. Real watch. Where he didn’t win a trophy, he came very close, with one final, three semi-finals and three quarter-finals rounding out his record.

However, there are traces of clostebol, an illegal anabolic steroid, which has colored his blood and still torments him, no matter how much he believes in justice. He claims it reached his veins because his former physiotherapist, who was fired soon after, did not wear massage gloves and suffered a cut, which the tennis player claims caused the infection.

22 million euros

“I had a moment of complete darkness. I didn’t know what to say. No words came out of my mouth. I was completely stunned. I was afraid of everything and all people. It was difficult and still is. “I looked around and wondered what people really thought of me,” he admits. “I know that I did nothing wrong, that I always followed the rules. And I’m calm. I’ve already had three hearings and all three ended in my favor, so I’ll cooperate and work and see what happens. But I’m very positive. Obviously, I don’t like being in this position,” he laments, while Italy worries and celebrates the unstoppable rise of his first teacher, his last teacher. divine a sport that explodes the public and lies between extreme and extreme, fame and suspicion, has brought profit like no other and has made its way through banknotes and new banknotes.

In particular, his services on the courts and the parade a month ago in Riyadh – accompanied by Nadal, Alcaraz, Djokovic and Sinner and others – earned him 22 million euros. “I don’t play for the money,” he says. “Of course it’s important, but it’s not that important,” he continued after winning the exhibition with the same authority with which he rules today, five months at the top, as resounding here as there. He started to set the pace in Australia, where he beat Djokovic and Medvedev, and was able to overcome the odds to win in New York; To add insult to injury, he has gone from strength to strength in the Masters 1000 and has established himself as a boss on the hard court, also becoming the first to reach 70 wins since Andy Murray achieved 78 in 2016.

“I still think I have room for improvement,” he says. “There are still certain points and areas where I can improve; These are details, but the closer you get to the top level, the more important these details are. More matters. I don’t strive to be the first at anything because at the end of the day they are just statistics, but I always try to improve and understand what I can do better,” he continues in the conference room. “My goal now is to internalize everything that I have gained this season and next season I will approach it the same way, keeping calm. All you have to do is be yourself and figure out what works and what doesn’t. Tennis is unpredictable, so you never know what can happen, but everything will be fine if mentally everything is in the right place,” he concludes.

This is the law established by Jannik Sinner, the last tornado. The main actor of this 2024. A king between two antagonistic realities.