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Gaia Piccardi, sent to Melbourne
The Australian Open final between Sinner and Zverev is the best that tennis can offer: the first in the world against the second. The German of the middle generation is dangerous on hard court, but Jannik has everything to do an encore
Three centimetres. The difference between Jannik Sinner and Sasha Zverev in the Australian Open final is the length of a caterpillar. From the meter and 98 of the German of Russian originin the form of life, it rained here in Melbourne 67 aces in six matchestop speed 222 km per hour and 75% of firsts on the pitch.
In his domineering rise to the top of tennis, Jannik has taken advantage of the 6 cm of growth of the last two abundant seasons (“He developed late, he’s a late bloomer” said coach Cahill); he blossomed when Carlos Alcaraz was already a man, he hooked it, surpassed it and from June 10, 2024, from the odds of 1.95, look down on everyone.
AND service is the crux through which from 9.30 am on Sunday 26 January the balances of a difficult and evocative challengeamong the most muscular exponent of that Next Gen that failed in the task of retiring the Big Three and the class of 2001 who made a silent revolution, while the dinosaurs became extinct under the rain of its meteorites and Alcaraz, despite owning four Majors at 21 years old, discovered himself involuted.
Sinner-Zverev, the former against the latterthe young against the veteran, the Italian almost more German than the German against the exponent of one storm and stress that he cannot afford, at 27, to lose the last diligenceit’s the best final Australia could offer us. Certainly a challenge between Jannik and the old Djoker would have had more charm, however not even Beelzebub can pass the timethe ferocious chase at the 25th Major cost the Serbian a strained left thigh: even the gods get injured and call the physiotherapist to be bandaged. It is not a secondary fact that Sascha, an indisputable tennis player and perfectible human being with complaints from girlfriends who accuse him of having been harassed, is one of the few players in circulation to have a positive record with the blue: the last cross, in Cincinnati a few hours before the Clostebol case became public (therefore in a delicate psychological condition) Sinner won it, and they were three sets to the death, but Zverev is ahead 4-2 and on the milk-colored skin of Jannik, who trained indoors on Saturday with a strong Australian batsman chosen by Cahill, he left engraved two deep scars, both on the fastAttention. The two eighths in New York, in 2021 and 2023, the latter defeat (in five sets) responsible for the choice – sacrosanct, it must be reiterated – not to respond to the call for Davis’ group.
-«Zverev is taller, better formed, physically he is a beast» Cahill pointed out on the eve of the match. The theme that comes up again, and is perhaps the last front on which Sinner needs to be tested for a definitive response, is keeping one’s distance. “I’m not afraid that the match will get longer” says the man from Hamburgthan in career he won 23 of 36 fifth-set gamesWhile Sinner 6 su 15 and reaches the final act at the top of a troubled two weeks to say the least between viruses that pushed him to the brink of retirement (in the round of 16 with Rune) and cramps that required massages on the pitch, twice in the effort with Shelton in semi-final. “Everything’s fine, it was just mental tension” he guaranteed at the end.
The known understatement Sinnerian exudes common sense (“It’s just a game, we’re just athletes, if I win well otherwise I’ll try again next time”) but never listen to Jannik when he pretends that tennis isn’t his core business existentialthe reason why he left home at 13. The emotional connection with Sesto Pusteria is Mark, the adoptive brother who involves at the end of training in games involving penance, the partner with whom to “talk about serious things”, the mirror who, if observed in the dark moments of an Australian Open in struggle, government and suffering, reminds him of the profound meaning of being here, down underto hit a felt ball with brute force hoping to leave more holes in the story. «At this moment no one in the world hits better than Sinner – said Shelton, dejectedly –, clean, fast and deep from both sides».
The man to beat remains an Italian boy with the aura of a predestined. If Zverev manages to take his destiny out of his hands, well done to him.
January 25, 2025 (changed January 26, 2025 | 07:43)
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