For Paolo Bertolucci Jannik Sinner is no longer alone

For Paolo Bertolucci Jannik Sinner does not è only

anymore.

In his usual weekly column "Volée di rovescio" in the Gazzetta dello Sport Paolo Bertolucci analyzes Luca Nardi's feat against Novak Djokovic and underlines the golden moment of Italian tennis, which has in JannikSinner its undisputed dragger but also many excellent players, to which is added the long-awaited return of Matteo Berrettini. Here are his words.

“Luca Nardi I had seen him play at the youth level and he caught my eye. A boy with great qualities, with a good hand and excellent fundamentals: forehand, backhand and volley. In short, a tennis player capable of staying well on the court and able to hold his own against talents his ageà like Alcaraz”.

"Then as time went on he è stopped, perhaps not understanding what path to take. I don’t know whether because of haste or because he’d been misguided, or because he’d not yet chosen tennis as his main future goal. The only certainty è that he was a little bit lost. But something è changed. È went to play in India rather than participate in more comfortable tournaments: that è was the most important sign of change. He realized that the road ahead could not and should not be all roses and flowers, in addition to Indian Wells, Rome and Paris he had to attend different places, more complex for him, before reaching important goals. È it was a passage of humilityà that perhaps wasn’t there before".

"Of course, that he could win against Djokovic was only in his parents’ dream. Instead, Luca found a non-first-rate version of Nole and è was good at taking advantage of it. D’on the other hand if the number 1 plays as number 1 there ’è little to do. I è liked him a lot especially in the third set when he didn è t get caught up in the frenzy of the moment. He handled the delicate moments well, his arm did not tremble and he è managed to do the right things without getting exalted, but also without getting blocked by’emotion. It means to have qualities, because he’ve put those qualities on display by facing his idol. At that moment, a guy playing on the center court of a major tournament can also mess up. Instead Nardi è behaved like an experienced tennis player".

"For Italian tennis è a new arrow being added, maybe not at the level of the first ones. A guy capable of catching up with the others by adding to the talents that have come to the fore in this beginning of 2024, starting with Cobolli. With the certainty of Sinner and the long-awaited recovery of Berrettini è a golden moment for Italian tennis. Don’t wake me up. An’abundance that they have experienced in Spain for so long and that we now enjoy. For Nardi, seeing the results of other Italians è was an extra boost. To be one of the strongest at the youth level and then to see yourself surpassed by guys that years before you often beat easily is not è easy. You can either react and go in their wake by watching them and learning something, or you can beat yourself down and raise the white flag, showing that you have no character to achieve".

"Luca took the first path by showing pride, rejecting defeat. Luca è a talented, complete player. With solid fundamentals and a good hand at the net è able to vary cuts and accelerations. The serve needs to be increased: playing at this level, Luca will realize that è too important and will work on that. Athletically, too, he seems to me to have grown. Before, he was behind physically and he often got hurt, holding back his growth. While as far as the surface is concerned, I don’t think he has particular problems both on clay and cement and at the indoor level. To be evaluated on the ’grass. With this result è he entered the top 100 in the rankings. Let’s wait a moment and see how he handles this drunkenness, including media, to see how far he can go".