Unlucky Sinner, who a few days before the start is forced to skip the Olympics due to tonsillitis, but Italy is ready to shine even without Jannik, with Mattarella who will go to Paris on Thursday to charge the Azzurri
Jannik Sinner will not take part in the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games due to tonsillitis. A defection that can only be attributed to bad luck, the Alto Adige player’s close companion throughout the clay-court season, and which has caused understandable disappointment to the Italian fans, but which must in no way cover the sky above our Federation with clouds of bad mood. Olympic Gameswhich on few other occasions had been so Sky blue as in this edition of the Games.
Yes why Sinner would have been a sure protagonist in Paris, but certainly not the only one of the Italian expedition. Italy had rarely shown up at the Olympic Games with so much enthusiasm and with so much many hopes of gold medals and not only, fueled by the incredible exploits achieved in the recent competitions that preceded the games, such as the last European Athletics Championships that we did not win, but dominated. And as at the European Athletics Championships, also at the Olympic Games to give energy to our athletes there will be a very special supporter, that Sergio Mattarella who as a fan rejoiced and suffered in seeing Gianmarco Tamberi jump, fake injuries and win, a bit like Sandro Pertini to the memorable 1982 World Cup.
Sinner, cursed red clay: no Olympics
Even in the season that consecrates you as number one in the world, not everything is perfect, especially when bad luck strikes you, as in the case of Sinner every time the South Tyrolean finds himself facing the red clay, which after having been an accomplice of the Italian tennis successes for decades, has decided this year to turn its back on our dear Jannik.
From the chair umpire’s gross error in Monte Carlo, through the hip injury that forced him first to withdraw from the Madrid Masters 1000, then to skip the Italian Internationals and to show up at Roland Garros without the necessary preparation, up to the tonsillitis that struck him in recent days forcing him to skip the Paris Olympics – which will be held on the French Open courts -, in 2024 the land has consistently proven to be cursed for Sinner.
But Italy is full of Sinners like never before, in tennis…
The absence of Sinner at the Games, however, it must not reduce the enthusiasm surrounding the Italian expedition to the Paris Olympicsbecause Italy is full of talents, protagonists and medal-winning athletes like few other times in the history of the five rings, starting with…tennis. Because yes, it’s true, Jannik is the spearhead of the Italian movement, but he is certainly not the only excellence.
At the last minute Roland Garros Italy was present in three out of five finals: the women’s singles with Jasmine Paolini, that of the men’s doubles with Simone Borelli e Andrea Vavassori (who should replace Jannik in singles at the Olympics) and the female one with Sara Errani it’s still – Pauline. Practically the only one – among those who had a chance on the eve – who had not pushed to the final act was precisely Sinner.
This is obviously not to belittle Sinnerbut to make people understand how deep and varied the Italian movement is and how the chances of a medal in tennis at the Olympics are concrete even without Jannik. Pauline he is unlikely to win gold if he is present Iga Swiatekbut she has a great chance of winning at least one medal (the value of which could be determined by when she would end up meeting the Polish player), while it would not be absurd to consider the couples Bolelli/Vavassori e Errani/Paolini as potential gold medal favorites, especially considering that the couples against whom they lost the final act at the Roland Garros in both cases they were made up of two tennis players of different nationalities.
…and not only: Tamberi, Ceccon, Testa, Volpi. How many champions
What was written above for tennis is even more valid for many other sports. After the excellent results obtained at Tokyo in 2021Italy presents itself to the Paris Games with the intention of doing even better and setting a new record for medals and thinking that this feat is actually possible, it is not just us fans who are directly interested and always a little biased perhaps, it is also our opponents who rightly fear us and Nielsen – a world-class company that deals with analysis and statistics – according to which Our federation will close the event with a whopping 46 medals, including 11 golds.
This is because Italy in this historical period of Sinner it’s packed full: Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine e Irma Head in boxing, Thomas Marini, Alice Foxes and the Women’s team in foil/fencing, Larissa Iapichino in the long jump, l’Italvolley con Egonu protagonist in volleyball, John DeGennaro in the canoe, Thomas Ceccon in swimming, Elena Micheli in modern pentathlon, Vito Dell’Aquila watch taekwondo, Roger Tita e Catherine Banty in sailing, the 4×100 relay, Marcell Jacobs who is still the reigning Olympic champion and Gianmarco Tamberi, who aims to become the first athlete to win two gold medals – consecutive ones, by the way – in the high jump.
Mattarella charges the Azzurri and leads the enthusiasm
The President of the Republic will also arrive on Thursday 25 July Sergio Mattarella to the Olympic village in Paris to meet the athletes of our federation and then inaugurate Casa Italia in Le Prè Catelan on Friday. A Sergio Mattarella who will certainly be the first fan of our athletes and it will also be in a slightly more emotional way than one might expect from a person who holds an institutional role like his, because he is aware of our potential as he has been in recent times Europeans of Athletics held in Romewhere to be able to attend the Tamberi printing and not only did he “violate” the protocol by showing up twice at the same event, to symbolize how widespread and contagious the enthusiasm around the Italian sports movement is, and this regardless of the presence of Sinner o meno.
Source: sport.virgilio.it
