Jannik Sinner hails from South Tyrol, part of Italy’s autonomous Trentino-Alto Adige region – it’s affluent, too Bavarian in its scenery and plays its tennis on indoor hard courts.
When compared to his country’s underwhelming tennis legacy, Jannik Sinner is a clear over-achiever. But somehow, Italy doesn’t extend him the unanimous and unconditional love that he so deserves.
Sinner is the World No.1 and that’s an unprecedented high for a country whose greatest-ever male player for long was the 70s star Adriano Panatta, the winner of just one Grand Slam title. At 23, Sinner is already the Australian Open champion and is billed to win many more Slams. The ongoing US Open could see him win his second. When Sinner has Carlos Alcaraz across the court, memories of the Nadal-Federer era come rushing back. So why can’t the passionately sporty European nation treat him like the Azzurri? The answer is simple – Because for many, he isn’t a true blue Italian.
For one he has a German name. It doesn’t have the sing-song stretch of characters found in Godfather movies. His Italian too isn’t pure, it is accented. His hands don’t flay when he talks. He is studious on court, like the Germans. Sinner hails from South Tyrol, part of Italy’s Trentino-Alto Adige region where 70 per cent of the residents speak German. Sharing international borders with Austria, Sinner’s home town has a past. After being part of Austrian-Hungarian empire for a century, the province merged with the Kingdom of Italy in 1918. Their nationality might have been changed but the new Italians continued to follow their age-old traditions and culture.
The region was in the thick of things during World Wars. In 1939, Hitler and Mussolini would sit to decide the fate of these in-betweeners. But the uncertainty couldn’t wipe out the Germanness of this Italian region. When peace prevailed, the northern Trentino-Alto Adige fought for its autonomy and got it.
The residents have an option of choosing German over Italian at school. Most cities and villages have two names – one German, the other Italian. Sinner’s village is Innichen for the German-speaking population and San Candido for Italian speakers.
The autonomous Trentino-Alto Adige has its own laws. The region is allowed to collect and keep its tax money. Unlike other Italian provinces, Rome has no control over these collections . The breath-taking sights ensure a year-long gush of tourists and cash flow. Sinner grew up in this scenic locale that is part of the richest Italian province. South Tyrol remains the envy of other provinces.
And so when a sporting hero with a German sounding name emerged from a not-too-Italian region, the usual frenzy was missing. Sinner too didn’t help his cause by missing two Olympics and one Davis Cup engagement. At times even the optics were not good. When he played a tennis tournament in Austria, the local organisers, to give the event a boost, formed cheering squads for the stars. Those backing Sinner held posters with messages written in German. Already suspicious about those from the affluent autonomous region, it didn’t go down well with some Italians.
This also addresses a popular Reddit discussion about Sinner. Do Italians love Jannik Sinner as much as they would love Matteo Berrettini (an Italian player from Rome) if he were ranked No. 1? While most replies say they do, a few responses suggest there’s a small controversy fueling a bigger issue.
- “I’d say 90% of people love him, but a few with ‘anti-German’ views consider him Austrian.”
- “Some of my friends joke that after Thiem’s decline, it’s nice to have another Austrian as No. 1.”
- “Before Sinner’s rise, when Berrettini was No. 4, the media (mostly based in Rome) focused only on Berrettini. Sinner, with his strong accent, didn’t get as much attention.”
- “Isn’t it like Murray—British when he wins, Scottish when he loses?”
In the podcast The Jannik Sinner Show, Italian tennis fans Miki Fossati and Leonardo Poggi discuss how Sinner is seen as an “alien” in Italian tennis. They explore the impact of his roots in Trentino-Alto Adige and debunk some myths. Since gaining international recognition, there’s been talk about his junior skiing career and how it supposedly improved his footwork. While the ATP website calls him a “sensational skier,” the podcasters argue that Italy has plenty of skilled skiers, and Sinner wasn’t exceptional among them. The real answer lies elsewhere.
Sinner’s home-town is different from the picture postcard Italy backdrop. Its harsh winters and snow acts as an enemy for an outdoor sport like tennis. But the wealthy province came up with an expensive solution – they took tennis indoors. This makes Sinner an outlier. In a country known for its clay-courters, he is a highly-skilled hard-courter.
The podcasters say that they do bump into the Italians who feel Sinner is more German or Austrian. This is a tragedy born out of the toxic mix of geo-politics and sports. It is unfortunate that there are those Italians who marvel at his tennis but scoff at his name, accent and ancestry. Sinner has done the impossible – beaten his sport’s certified GOAT Novak Djokovic in his last two meetings. But those with mixed-up minds can’t look beyond the history of the conflicted region where he grew up.
But there is hope in the next generation. “The little children adored him because they don’t have all that bullshit fed into them. Children don’t know race, ethnicity and colour. Kids are attracted to him and they are huge Sinner fans,” say the podcasters. With time and more Slams, Italy is sure to embrace Sinner. Sports has another chance to play the unifier, bury hatchets and foster togetherness. Tennis isn’t just about breaking serves; it can even be about breaking walls.
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