The slam of hugs: Sinner and Zverev beyond the rivalry

Rome, 27 January 2025 – Of the third slam won by Jannik Sinner – who has fully entered the Olympus of tennis – will remain the hugs given by the Italian champion, first not only for the victories that surpass all the Italians who came before him, but above all for humility and empathy.

It is not a risk if we say that, yesterday, seeing him while he was consoling the defeated Alexander Zverev during the awards ceremony at the Australian Open, number one Jannik was truly sorry for his rival's pain. Almost as if the joy for the victory had to be contained and mitigated to respect the German's anguish. 

Jannik Sinner consoles defeated Alexander Zverev

The pictures speak: the tears of the german who, emotionally destroyed, rests his head on the shoulder of the 23-year-old, Sinner who tries to console him, also with his lips compressed and his gaze sad, as if for a few moments the victory did not count, in the face of the other's desperation.

Alexander Zverev's tears after defeat at the Australian Open (Ansa)

And then today it was the champion himself who said it: "For us players the pain of a defeat is stronger than the joy of a victory, we are increasingly attached to the things we can't do," Jannik explained. "It was a difficult moment for Sascha, I tried to encourage him. He deserves more than anyone to win a Slam."

An esteem reciprocated by the German number two, who despite the attempts of the Berlin daily newspaper Bild to discredit the triumph of the South Tyrolean with the shadow of doping, he addressed sincere appreciation to him, repeating like a mantra the words 'he's better than me'. "Jannik Sinner is from another planet: he's better than me right now, it's simple. I think I served better than him but he did everything else better than me. From the baseline he completely dominated me. He moves better than me. He hit his forehands better than me. He hits his backhands better than me. He returns better than me. He's better at volleying. In short, there are five or six main shots in tennis and he hits four or five of them better than me. That's why he won. He deserved it." 

IERI (Yesterday) 3,5 million viewers they remained glued to the TV to watch the final broadcast free-to-air on Nove and Eurosport, a final that will be remembered for another amazing feat by the home-grown champion, but also for the lots of hugs: the most touching one is the one saddened by Zverev, and then for those of party with his team-family.

Jannik Sinner's hug with his team (Ansa)

Simone Vagnozzi, Marco Panichi, Ulysses Badio and Darren Cahill, nearing retirement. Jannik hugged them all close to him, before going up to the stands to join the brother Mark, his “best friend”, and hug him too.

Sinner's hug to his brother Mark and friends (Ansa)

Sinner, champion of empathy. In the end he apologized and even reassured Zverev's girlfriend, almost mortified to have beaten him. And if on Wednesday he will not be at Quirinale by President Mattarella to celebrate the successes of Italian tennis in 2024 – while certainly will skip the ATP 500 in Rotterdam to rest -, we will forgive him.