Sinner, a champion with his feet on the ground: from the ATP Finals to everyday simplicity

ATP Finals, Turin, the most important tournament of the season. The arena is packed with fans, enthusiasts, and even newcomers. The match is a tough one; Jannik Sinner faces a tough, unpredictable opponent. His name is Felix Auger-Aliassime, he's from Canada and one of the strongest players on the tour. Sinner has a problem with his right hand, likely contaminated by an energy gel he takes during breaks in play.

The feeling of discomfort convinces him to stop, and he washes his hand with a freshly opened bottle. Then he looks up and turns to the referee: "Don't throw it away, I'll drink the rest later."

Sinner is one of the most famous, well-paid, and respected athletes in the world, and not just in Europe. He's Sinner everywhere, like Cristiano Ronaldo or Diego Maradona, just as Roger Federer and Michael Jordan are and will be. It's needless to emphasize the millions, tens of millions, he earns and will earn every year. He's 24 years old, with all the weaknesses, strengths, and flaws of a special young man. But the gesture of the bottle of water he shouldn't waste restores him to humanity, that mountain simplicity that a family like his, made up of hard-working people who until recently couldn't afford to send him around the world, has instilled in him.

They're called values; it's best to refresh your memory. Now that world is at his feet, conquered by his sporting achievements but also by his personality, his education, a "synnerization" of customs that is undoubtedly a positive example for young people who play sports. And for others, too.

In the long interview he recently gave on Sky Sport, he declined to respond to questions about criticism, taxes, living in Monte Carlo, and gratuitous attacks: "I respond on the court, I play tennis, that's all I do." He's even been criticized for his 700-horsepower Ferrari 812, full-frontal, delirious attacks on something he's earned through hard work. He washes it by hand, with a sponge and a rag, and that's it, perhaps thinking back—as he delicately rubs cream on the bodywork—to how hard it was to get to the top. Come on, Sinner, then, because you're incredibly lucky to have him on your side. Italy on the move, today in Turin and tomorrow around the world.

Enrico Pilia