In the fall of 2020, the strangest Roland Garros in history was held.
The chronicler remembers those days well, those walks towards the Bois de Boulogne, crossing the Parisian boulevards, with his face masked, the hood over his head and the scarf around his neck.
It rained often.
In that post-pandemic Paris, Roland Garros was a strange bubble. Neither shops nor shop windows nor merchandising. The tennis players walked the corridors at will: nobody was going to ask them for a selfie.
Rafael Nadal was 34 years old and still had a good tennis career ahead of him when, late at night, he went on stage to face Jannik Sinner, a redheaded teenager, long and sharp as a lightning rod, still semi-unknown.
(A semi-unknown Sinner for the general public, it is understood, since the ATP people had already had their eye on him: in 2019, the Italian had jumped from 553rd to 78th in the ranking, and for that reason the tennis community had given him designated newcomer of the year, revelation of the year).
How tough that quarterfinal adventure had been.
The lanky redhead had given Nadal nothing: Sinner had been robotic, he had thrown magnificent parallel forehands, he had even broken the serve of the Balearic Islands player, the best clay specialist ever seen, and he had only conceded already at one o'clock. early morning, after almost three hours of play, after telling the world:
-Here I am.
Although his exercise had not transferred into a victory, Sinner had further wowed the tennis community and its many experts, including members of Rafael Nadal's coaching staff.
Behind the scenes, Nadal's entourage told this chronicler
–This Italian, Sinner, is going to be in the Top 3 very soon.
So we had to pay attention to Sinner, to the Italian school in general, because then Berrettini (Alcaraz's rival this Monday in the round of 16), Cecchinato or Sonego were already shining, and at the bottom of the ranking was another future: Musetti.
Sinner was then the 44th.
Nadal was on top of the world (he would own his 20th Grand Slam, as many as Federer had).
Alcaraz was barely a minor character in the local press.
Yes, Sinner had everything to take over tennis.
Or so it was believed.
(...)
Four years later, we are still waiting for Sinner, eighth in the world, an academic tennis player, not so imperturbable anymore, angry if things go wrong.
This Sunday, towards his victory against the Colombian Daniel Galán, Sinner had hooked up with Marijana Veljovic, the chair umpire, on a couple of occasions.
I'm usually calm, but sometimes these things happen. I have been bothered by a couple of decisions against me –Sinner would say later.
Maybe he's nervous.
Nervous and impatient.
Well, Sinner (21) already has seven titles in his bag, although none of them are important (Montpellier, Umag, Antwerp...) and he is not remembered for outstanding performances in the Grand Slam.
Brilliant at times – brilliant had been his victory against Alcaraz a year ago at Wimbledon, in the round of 16 –, Sinner is irregular on other occasions, especially in the Grand Slams, where he has always limited himself in the quarterfinals.
Statistically surpassed by Alcaraz and Rune, generational companions, the experts ask for time: they interpret that Sinner is a slow-burning tennis player.
–Sinner is not like Alcaraz, who at 19 is already capable of defeating anyone. He does not have his mentality or Djokovic's, who is not afraid of anyone either. Sinner still has weak points. But he is growing and we will see him win Grand Slam titles,” says Patrick Mouratoglou, tennis guru.
In the quarterfinals, Roman Safiullin, a tennis player without a flag (he is Russian) who is listed as the 92nd ATP, awaits him on Tuesday.
