After losing the match in the Davis Cup final in Malaga with the score of 7-6 6-2, the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor complimented Jannik Sinner for the level he expressed, then letting himself go with a comment on the Clostebol affair that has been in the news for several months and is still unresolved. The 28-year-old from Haarlem spoke about the doping issue involving the young Italian, expressing his admiration for Jannik, but expressing doubts about the innocence of the ATP No.1.
“For me, on a personal level Sinner is a wonderful guy and a great player, but in the end you never know what happened,” he said.
The head-to-head of the challenges between the Italian and the Dutchman said 6-0 for two-time Slam champion, four of which won in 2024 alone, including the one that delivered the second consecutive Davis Cup into the hands of the Italians.
A real nightmare for the ATP No.40, who in the past had already shown that he was scared by the idea of finding the 23-year-old Italian on his path in tournaments.
After the appeal by WADA, a new ruling is awaited from the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS). In the meantime, however, Italy is enjoying its champion, with the hope that everything will be resolved in the right direction.
The Italian federation cannot help but celebrate the extraordinary results obtained by the tennis movement of its country during 2024, closed with the triumphs at the Billie Jean King Cup and in the Davis Cup.
Jannik Sinner, Davis Cup Finals 2024© Stream screenshot
The goals were commented with great satisfaction by the chairman of the Italian Tennis Federation Angelo Binaghi, in an interview given to the Gazzetta dello Sport. The chairman focused on two important figures who helped lead the group to victory, captains Tathiana Garbin and Filippo Volandri:
“They are two intelligent, empathetic guys, who were helped a lot at the beginning by Graziano Risi, a truly enlightened manager who deals with the technical sector. Above all, they were able to create cohesion and harmony, they worked as a team in a hyper-individual sport like tennis and in a country, Italy, where teammates have often found their fiercest enemies among themselves,” he said.
Binaghi then talked about Sinner’s positivity to Clostebol: analyzing: “He was acquitted by an independent court, he made two appeals against the suspension and won them, I don’t know what more needs to be done to prove his innocence. We are, like everyone else, waiting for the decision, and like everyone else, we know nothing about the ongoing proceedings and the timing. As a Federation, we had thought about going to court but the player’s team advised us not to do so.”
After the Finals and the victories in the two team events, Binaghi revealed the next victory he dreams of: “Now I imagine one of our athletes winning the Rome Internationals. We are already at 70% more in advance sales than a year ago, we will still fit them all in the Foro. In synergy with Sport e Salute, we are preparing a plan to expand the spaces, also with more fields, which will leave the world speechless.”