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“Let’s call it the ‘Jannik effect’, an upward drag on the entire movement which was undoubtedly predictable: when you have a winning example and model in front of you, the spirit of emulation works as a stimulus for everyone and the attempt to try achieving the results of the great champion represents a springboard for the other players. The golden moment of Italian tennis seems to never end, a prolonged renaissance that continues to give us results of great prestige.”
These are the words of former tennis ace Paolo Bertolucciwho expressed himself on Jasmine Paolini’s victory and made a particular comparison with how much the goals that Jannik Sinner is achieving are influencing in general.
Italy is experiencing an incredible period in international tennis. It’s not just Jannik Sinner: in addition to the successes of the 22-year-old winner of the Australian Open and the Davis Cup triumph in Malaga last November, many other players are highlighting themselves with very important results.
Bertolucci on the Jannik Sinner’s effect
Among these there is certainly Jasmine Paolini, who at the end of a splendid week achieved victory in the WTA 1000 in Dubai and has relaunched herself in all respects on the women’s Tour, considering that she is now number 14 in the ranking and, in Race optics for the finals at the end of the season, is currently sixth.
On Paolini’s great growth, Bertolucci added: “Jasmine followed her path under the guidance of an excellent coach like Furlan without letting herself get caught up in performance anxiety and now she can reap the benefits. And it doesn’t matter that she has just turned 28: everyone matures in their own time .
The results are the ideal umbrella under which the whole movement can think about improving without the worry of victories at all costs. For decades in Italy, when a talent appears, the pressures that they accompanied in a country with an enormous hunger for high-level tennis players who could at least replicate the glories of the Davis generation of 1976 ended up overwhelming it.”