Sinner, the number 1 who is no longer afraid of love

Forget about Sinner who a month ago was watching his girlfriend’s match in the stands at Roland Garros Anna Kalinskaya hooded like a rapper. And also archive the post in which on July 10th of last year, a Wimbledon does, in short, his ex Mary Braccini she showed herself on Instagram with a selfie that portrayed her in total solitude in the bathrooms of Wimbledon, among mirrors, taps and soap dishes, with the accreditation of the Championship around her neck and the allusive comment “what great times in London”. Gone are the times and the Slams in which the not yet number one in the world protected his love life with absolute, almost maniacal confidentiality. With Braccini admitted to his apartment (the two lived together in Monte-Carlo) but never in his box and who was left with only so many solitary “Hello Wimbledon” (she was there also in 2022, but relegated to the terrace overlooking the courts) or “Hello Miami” during the days of the American Masters 1000.

Braccini has been silently archived (the two have also stopped following each other on Instagram and her profile has been frozen since last March), this Wimbledon 2024 marks a tennis and private turning point for Sinner and who knows whether the intertwining of the two existential planes will not give life to the miracle that, also to compensate for the bitter football disappointment of the European Championships, Italians are expecting, the first Italian in history in the roll of honour of the men’s Wimbledon: so far only Sara Errani and Roberta Vinciwinners of the doubles ten years ago, while Matteo Berrettini came close to the feat in 2021, losing the final against Djokovic.
Fate has decided that in the second round of this Wimbledon Sinner has to face Berrettini himselfa grass court specialist who is making a great comeback (in the first round he got rid of Fucsovic in four sets) who, after the social media storm that accompanied his liaison with Melissa Sattaseems to have silenced his love life. Sinner’s is another story, which passes and evolves, tennis-wise and sentimentally, through the stages of the Slams. The Australian one was his first Slam title and the one where he began to sympathize with the Russian tennis player; at Roland Garros, due to or thanks to a paparazzi shot in a Parisian restaurant, he was practically forced to make his relationship with Kalinskaya official, with few words and a hood in the stands though.

And now, after the title on the grass of Halle where the former skier has sentimentally defrosted himself by declaring that he is really very happy with Anna and consoling her publicly for the final lost in Berlin, there is Wimbledon. On the grass of Church road Sinner is playing his first Slam as number one. And if it’s true that he has to deal with a very difficult draw, it’s also true that perhaps he will play “lighter”, without the burden of not having to externalize his love life.

Wimbledon is the Slam where the South Tyrolean, who will turn 23 next August, and the 25-year-old Muscovite who, after a series of physical injuries and her relationship with Nick Kyrgios, a tennis player who is certainly less reassuring than Jannik, is climbing the rankings (she is now number 17, her best ranking) finally live their relationship in the light of day: with walks in the alleys, she in the stands watching his first match, couple photos granted to fans, he following her training, smiles and loving glances. All that’s missing are the couple photos on social media, but that doesn’t mean we won’t get there soon. If they are roses, they will continue to bloom, but in the meantime there is still time to stroke the grass: with Sinner-Berrettini on one side, certainly not an easy second round, and today’s first round between Kalinskaya and the Hungarian Panna Udvardy.