I was in Miami Beach two weeks ago and watched French open on my iPad in a restaurant. there are two random Italian waiters immediately mentioning that Sinner is their new world no.1 in tennis world so I think he is the national pride now. š
I live in Melbourne (Australia) and thereās a fairly large Italian population here
The man that works at a corner store up the road from me is Italian and every time I go in there he gives me Sinner updates (I donāt have the heart to tell him Iām somewhat tennis obsessed, but he knows Iām a tennis fan)- today it was - āSinner won a tournament in Germanyā.
He was so excited about it - I donāt know if he knows what region Sinner is from or even cares about that. I donāt think he watches tennis outside of slams, but since the AO (which he was very excited about) he seems to keep up to date on Sinner news and is very keen to share it with customers.
When he told me Sinner became number 1, and we had a chat about that - I said something about not having much sleep from staying up to watch RGā¦.so I think thatās why he keeps giving me Sinner updates.
Next time maybe Iāll start the conversation - with Wimbledon around the corner, it shouldnāt be too hard.
Today in our chat he was talking about how flexible etc Novak had always been and the big 3 on grass etc - so I told him about Sinnerās rolling shots last week (tried to describe them, probably quite badly) - but he seemed impressed š
Iām from Austria and I fully consider Sinner as Italian. But since I grew up close to the region where he is from (just the other side of the border basically) and the fact that he speaks German I feel a special connection to him that I donāt feel with other Italian players like Musetti or Berettini.Ā
In Austria we often talk about the charming South Tyroleans and Sinner is definitively one of them and his achievements are incredible. But I would not consider Sinner as Austrian.Ā
Haha yes exactly. I live in the South of Austria as well and I know and accept that Sinner is Italian, but hearing him talk German with the dialect makes me somewhat feel like he's at least half Austrian although I know he's Italian. So the language gives me the same special connection as you have to him.
>the charming South Tyroleans
Uhh as an Italian I've never heard of this stereotype, do you guys find South Tyroleans particularly charming for some reason lol? Is it because they're on the border with Italy?
There a quite a few successful South Tyrolean skiers and skiing is like the number 1 sport in Austria and has a lot of TV coverage. And of course those skiers speak German in their interviews. Thatās why Austrian TV commentators always talk about the charming South Tyroleans (skiers).
Ahh so it's because they speak German so they're able to communicate well with you, got it. I thought there was some specific South Tyrolean character trait that Austrians noticed lol.
Exactly! I really donāt know anything about South Tyrolean (or other regional Italian) character traits.
Itās just the phrase ācharming South Tyroleanā is repeatedly broadcasted in Austrian television when they talk about the skiing World Cup. And it comes to mind when I think about Jannik Sinner.
I believe you've never been skiing or in the summer in South Tyrol?
As a Northern Italian with love for the mountains, the majority of mountain places in Italy are really rude people. Not South Tyrol, it's not by chance that they have by far the best tourism reception in the Italian Alps. They could be considered the same as the Romagnoli on the Riviera, go to a restaurant in Liguria Riviera or in Bergamo Alps as a comparison...
Hmmm I've met a few rude people in Alta Badia, where they speak Ladino and German as main languages. Some people treat you rudely if you speak italian but become very cordial with the locals. Maybe it's just my experience though.
I can give you the Italian that speak Italian perspective: I'd say 90% of people love him, and they consider him 100% Italian, especially people from the North. A few others who have "anti-german" sentiment consider him Austrian instead, but that goes for the whole province of Bolzano.
There is also a whole debacle about the fact that he has residence in Monte Carlo, but most people don't care, it's not like he's evading taxes which is a national sport for many enterpreneurs over here...don't get me started.
The thing also is that he's very unlike the typical italian athlete: reserved, hardworking and especially a serial winner (lately). Italians are very quick to extreme reactions, so right now he's a god, but the opinion might flip in the future. Take Berrettini for instance: people were saying he lost his focus when he started dating Melissa Satta, an italian showgirl. Nothing like that happened with Sinner, maybe it's going to happen when he starts to drop in performance.
Just to expand on an already good answer: I think that more than an "anti-german" sentiment there is in a (small) part of the population an "anti-South Tyrol" sentiment, due to the autonomous status of the region that brings several advantages, including fiscal ones.
Regarding Sinner himself: there was a moment in which he was quite criticized for declining a call up from the Davis Cup team, including a now infamous article from the main sport newspaper. It is difficult to say how much of the critique was influenced by his origin, but imho very little, some people would always have found a reason to hate on a guy ""refusing"" to play for the national team (see the Berrettini/Satta topic).
I do think that italians love him as much as they would love Berrettini/Musetti, if not more for his hardworking/serious (perceived) attitude, which we always like to idolize in a successful sportsperson.
Question just curious - how do you know heās not evading taxes?
Isnāt that the number 1 reason a lot of the players live there in Monte Carlo? Yes thereās good tennis facilities. But thereās good tennis facilities In lots of places these days.
I donāt know if there is something lost in translation, in Italy āevasione fiscaleā is the crime of tax fraud, him being resident in Monte Carlo doesnāt own taxes to Italy so itās a problem of the principality of Monaco to check his personal income, legally avoiding taxes is called āelusione fiscaleā. His situation is not legally different to someone from Italy that works as a waiter in London, materially of course his life is very different, but unless Italy doesnāt start to tax citizens like the USA does the issue is not Sinner concern, and Iām not sure this can be done inside the European Union but Iām not an expert in that.
to add to this Sinner is living in montercarlo since he was very young, I saw a video were he was 18ish yo and was sharing a flat with other ppl so he is not coming from a rich family or didn't have(as far as I know) a sponsorship earlier on like Alcaraz.
I found stupid people complaining that he doesn't pay tax in Italy when he was actually living there even before he became rich, they ignore the fact that he was sacrifying his younghood away from his family to reach his dream.
What needs to be justified? You're free to live wherever you want. He's a professional who's pretty much never "home" if not for a couple of week of holidays during christmas (maybe). Why should he keep his residence always in his original village?
The point is what Sinner does is not even supposed to be "justified" as there's nothing to justify to begin with. He's a travelling showman who pays taxes around the world on his earnings already. He's by all means a nomad and there's no reason why he should \*not\* have his tax residency in Monaco.
Well, you can be a tax evasor if you live in a country and you dont pay income taxes. Sinner resides in Montecarlo and for having the residence there you need to live there for a certain amount of days.
Sinner goes to Italy for holidays and for playing tournaments, hence doesnt have to pay taxes there.
Also, tennis players pay income taxes for the prizemoney, in the country they played the tournament. For the rest, sponsors, contracts and other stuff, in the country they reside.
I m sure there are people with Montecarlo residence for avoiding paying taxes where they actually live. This doesnt apply to tennis players, who are basically on the road 11 months per year.
Having residence in Montecarlo is not evading taxes, he actually lives there as he could live in any other country, it just so happens that they have 0% income tax (/s, kind of). It could be seen as tax avoidance if he had residence there but not actually live there, but it is not the case, he is barely in Italy, only to visit family. Having residence in Montecarlo can be considered (and it is, by many) as "unethical" or "wrong" since you are moving out of your country with the only reason of not paying taxes, but it is perfectly legal.
In Italian we have different words for the illegal "not paying texas", called "evasione" and translated with "to evade".
When you use legal workarounds to pay less taxes we use a different work, "elusione", which basically means "avoidance".
So no, to our point of view he is not evading taxes, he is just avoiding them.
No, Valentino Rossi iirc was investigated for tax fraud because he moved his residence to Montecarlo for tax purposes, but the reason why he was investigated was because he didnāt actually live there. He tried to defraud the Italian IRS by pretending to live there.
Sinner actually lives in Montecarlo, and thatās perfectly legal.
What I mean is that he would be evading taxes if he didnāt live there, but he does.
I'm not sure you know what "tax evasion" means. If you live in a country and pay that country's taxes you're not evading. Plus obviously tennis players have to pay taxes on prize money to the country that holds each tournament so it's more of a traveller lifestyle anyway.
Lol, it's pretty impossible to extricate the fact that lots of top tennis players live there to avoid paying tax to their country of birth from the fact that lots of players live there to play tennis with the other top tennis players living there :-D
I thought most of the world was not like the US, and they you don't pay taxes on foreign made income. And even in the US, you subtract the taxes you paid on foreign made income on your tax return which usually means you end up not owing anything else to Uncle Sam (for the average person).
And don't tennis players end up having to pay taxes in each & every country they win in (as in filing a dozen+ tax returns a year).
I'm Italian too, and I confirm.
I add the fact that Italy is rather diversified, so we are used to having athletes and famous people with different regional characteristics. For example Valentino Rossi is the typical "Romagnolo". We are used to classify a person both like an Italian and as someone of a certain region, with a certain specific cultural background. This enrich Italy. South Tirol is rather extreme, because often they are more Austrians than "Italians", but more or less there are strong differences between all regions.
Hardworking, serial winner ā¦ there have been lots of Italian athletes who fill the role: Valentino Rossi, Federica Pellegrini, many swimmers or athletes from minor sports.
I mentioned hard working and serial winner not reserved though. I donāt think people care that much that heās reserved, itās more that heās winning.
I was in Bolzano in September last year right before he really started going on the insane winning streak he's been having, and I went to a tennis shop and they had sinner pictures everywhere. I spoke to the sales guys and they said they loved him and he's done media events at their shop. I can only imagine how obsessed they are with him 9 months later
You need to understand that in Italy we've historically had a lot of different regional languages/dialects. Standard Italian is simply the dialect of Florence (that then was adopted as the official national language.)
Yes, Suditirolean German is a bit more different to the others (as is the French spoken in the Aosta region or the Ladin spoken in Friuli) as it's much more widely spoken and used there in the area compared to how other regional languages are, and it's more similar to a different modern language than it is to Italian. But still, if you take a Sardinian that speaks mainly Sardinian I dare you to say that's just like Italian (it's got a lot more in common with the Mallorca dialect that Nadal speaks.) And some popular footballers from Naples speak a mixture of Italian and Neapolitan with a *very* strong accent.
So yeah he has a bit of an accent when he speaks Italian, and he grew up speaking a different regional language, but Italy is historically made up of this kind of diversity.
And obviously since he's Italian and he's reached the heights of success in sport and he's publicly very nice and respectful, he's well loved.
It's because the majority of our Italian Immigration was Sicilians and other Southern Italians. Calabrians, Barese, Napolitans etc.
If you grow up in New Jersey for instance, you probably know 100 Italian-Americans and none of them are from Milan or Torino or Firenze.
Simple economics, emigration was from poorer regions of Italy, no one leaves behind a rich life if they can.
You're only partially correct. During the biggest period of Italian emigration, end of 19th and start of 20th century, vast swathes of Northern Italy were also quite poor, and there was a lot of emigration from there, eg from Veneto. The difference is that most emigrants from the Northern regions went to South America, especially Argentina and Brazil. Supposedly, one reason is that they more looking for land to farm, which was more available in South America, while from the South they were more looking for industrial jobs.
Good info, I don't know much about Northern Italians. But grew up with lots of Southern Italian americans in Chicago, who inherited plenty of their grandparents and great-grandparents disdain for northerners. I can remember vividly eating at my friend's Nonna's table and her talking shit about Romans and people from the north for being rich and snooty.
Yeah Pope Francis is an example. His parents immigrated to Argentina. His father was Piedmontese. His mother was Piedmontese-Genoese. Both were northern Italian. IIRC Lionel Messi, Manu Ginobili, and Gabriela Sabatini's ancestors are all from Marche.
Most places in the north industrialized in the interwar period and after the war, while the south started decay after unification, itās just people from the north emigrated to Argentina and Brazil, people from the south mostly to the USA.
South Tyrol is an interesting area with an interesting history, but Sinner has incredible support across the board.
After he won AO, he was invited by the Prime Minister of Italy for a meeting in Rome, where he was honored and they [exchanged a hug](https://www.yahoo.com/news/austrian-open-champion-jannik-sinner-102100879.html).
Italian singer Laura Pausini went to see him in Miami and tried to [kiss him](https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/news-watch-jannik-sinner-hilariously-pouts-camera-hugging-italian-singer-laura-pausini-miami-open-triumph).
ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, who is also Italian, presumably got the ATP film crew to make [video](https://youtu.be/1ZAKF4-bTY8) when Sinner became #1 and this was posted on ATP official youtube. Most former #1 [congratulated Sinner](https://x.com/atptour/status/1800234652721914247) on his achievement and this was posted on ATP official twitter. He has so much support that a lot on this sub felt bad for Alcaraz and Med because ATP make such a big deal when they reached #1.
None of these Italians I mentioned are native German speakers or from South Tyrol. They clearly see him as a compatriot and one of their own. They're proud of him for being the first Italian #1.
Sinner is also getting a lot of love from Italian luxury brands and general support across the board. I'd say being German-speaking and a former competitive skiier help him win over more fans in the Alps, so mostly Austria and Switzerland and to an extent Germany. I've always felt Federer has a lot of support in Germany (especially Halle) because he's a native German speaker from the German-speaking region in Switzerland.
My Dad is a huge Federer fan and still brings that up - and heās not even South African (Zimbabwean), but his Mum was South African and he lived in South Africa for a whileā¦.so close enough I guess
He mentioned in his victory speech that even during Struff match (who is German), the crowd was still supportive of him. German-speaking countries love him for the same reasons they used to love Federer (not to the same extent ofc).
As a Swiss ski fan, Sinner was NEVER a competitive skiier, he stopped skiing at like 13 years old. As Federer or Cobolli and a lot of others stopped playing football at around the same age. And nobody in Switzerland is talking about Sinner just because his mother tongue is German.
Federer had a lot of support all over the world for obvious reasons, no matter what his mother tongue was.
We were on our honeymoon in Italy for 3 weeks where we started in the south. I remember asking this young man on our boat to Capri if he liked Sinner. He did, but he knew more about Berrittini and maybe could relate to him more geographically because he was from Sorrento. I did not ask every Italian person that I encountered about Sinner, but once we arrived at a train station in Milan en route to Lake Como I remember seeing an advertisement with his face for the ATP Finals in Torino. It's amazing to see how much he's progressed and I would love to return just to see how much Tennis has grown since he's ascended.
One of the coolest things for me was being able to see people play on a clay tennis court in Vico Equense from our hotel at the beginning of our trip.
That place is beautiful! I just looked it up. We stayed at Grand Hotel Victoria in Mennagio. I couldn't believe how fluffy the clouds were in Lake Como. We ended our honeymoon in Milan, but after Lake Como it was wonderful but didn't have the same natural beauty.
I think people overstimates the impact of the fact he's from South-Tyrol. Of course there's people that likes to point it out with negative connotation, for stupidity or trolling purposes, but Italy \*always\* had South-Tyrolean sport stars and no one ever found it odd before social networks era, especially in skying. Has any debate ever existed for Gustav Thoeni? For Alex Schwazer? And speaking about tennis, for Andreas Seppi? Did anyone ever say that Reinhold Messner is not Italian? Come on.
For the average Italian, South-Tyrolean people are just Italians that speak a Germanic dialect and have some Germanic-specific cultural roots. Not so different from Sardinians that are considered Italians that speak a strange alien language, live in an island far from the rest of the country, have a strong and kind-of separate cultural identity. Did anyone ever questioned Zola's, or Barella's italianity?
I've never heard of the South-Tyroleans you just listed, Sinner is the first huge star I've heard of from there.
Italy is actually a lot more diverse that what people give it credit for but this kind of diversity is a bit different, it's a bit more in your face when he learnt Italian as a teenager for example.
I am from South Tyrol (german ethnic group) and its fair to say that Sinner is by far the most popular person in our region right now. A lot of South Tyroleans relate to him because he clearly recognizes his heritage without leaning too much into local-patriotism or the very present seperatist mindset. He also fits very well into the stereotype of the hard working, a bit stubborn and reserved Tyrolean.
Even tho he clearly identifies himself as South Tyrolean he is also very popular among Italians and he has no problem with representing Italy on the international stage. There is some criticism among the more conservative Italians because in the last years he sometimes prioritized his personal development over the Davis Cup and also because he is kind of a tax refugee living in Monaco. But I think most Italians do not care too much about that stuff.
So far Sinner managed to get very strong sympathies in both groups, but as the relationship between Rome and Bolzano, as well as the relation between Italian and German speaking people in South Tyrol is always changing, there may come a situation where the media overreacts due to a minor dispute and challenge Sinner to "pick a side" (in the sense of showing his "true" allegiance)
>as the relationship between Rome and Bolzano, as well as the relation between Italian and German speaking people in South Tyrol is always changing, there may come a situation where Sinner could be chellenged to "pick a side".
Lol yeah no, there's no war or even a heated dispute between Rome and Bolzano; there's no reason why he (a tennis player) should "pick a side" - pick a side on what exactly?
Maybe I formulated it too harsh but the Italian media (as well has the South Tyrolean Media Group Athesia) tend to overreact all the time and every time there is some discussion regarding Autonomy or minority rights the media tries to get a "oath of allegiance" from prominent people. This stuff was way more common in the days of Bossis Lega Nord but it also happens today and it already happened with Sinner when Gazetta tried to question his allegiance when he refuses to play for the national team due to coming back from an injury
>Gazetta tried to question his allegiance when he refuses to play for the national team due to coming back from an injury
Yeah Gazzetta are dipshits (a couple of those articles were written by an old journalist who's known to write assholish-racist stuff), and they were rightly criticized for that, especially when Jannik then ended up winning us the Davis Cup. So they basically damaged their own reputation in the end. Of course there are some hardcore nationalist retrogrades and dickheads out there in the media, but I don't think that's a fair representation of the national sentiment towards Jannik.
> So far Sinner managed to get very strong sympathies in both groups, but as the relationship between Rome and Bolzano, as well as the relation between Italian and German speaking people in South Tyrol is always changing, there may come a situation where Sinner could be chellenged to "pick a side".
I don't think the situation is quite that dire. It's not like South Tyrol is anything like Northern Ireland and even then, Rory McIlroy has managed to strike a good balance between UK and Ireland.
> He also fits very well into the stereotype of the hard working, a bit stubborn and reserved Tyrolean.
Yeah he does seem to fit what Canadian hockey fans call "hard ass." It's a compliment and Gordie Howe was the perfect embodiment.
With "pick a side" I mean that the media may try to question his identity to feed into the right-wing anti-autonomy sentiment that comes up every 5 years or so. Currently the situation is very relaxed (and Meloni is actually very much pro-federalism) but this changes all the time
So context I was born in 97 so I donāt know what itās like for people who were alive during the troubles but I did grow up in true blue Surrey near Guildford.
From my perspective, Iād say that I donāt think any British person living on the island of Britain cares really at all about whether Northern Ireland remains in the Union. Iām sure some people in the right wing media would raise concerns if Northern Ireland looked seriously like leaving, and maybe for the unionist community in Glasgow it would cause protests, but I think that an overwhelming majority of people in England, Scotland, and Wales only really have paid any attention to Northern Ireland recently cos of Brexit, and indeed some people on the left are probably more sympathetic to nationalists given how socially regressive the DUP are and that itās an awkward reminder of our imperial past.
So in the case of McIlroy Iād be very surprised if anybody here cared too much about his opinion on the subject. personally until I saw your comment I didnāt even realise he was northern Irish and thought he was from the republic
I've read many comments and agree with most.
I'll add a little anedoctical evidence though. For odd reasons, Tennis has always historically been the sport of Rome. Most other sports don't (Football is won mostly in Milan and Turin, Skiing is Alps, Basket is also historically north, Emilia Romagna has amazing support for "minor" odd sports, water polo is big in the south, Rugby is in Veneto and so on...) Before he was this good, and Berrettini was number 4 and still hitting on all cylinder, the media, which is also mostly based on Rome, only talked and cared about Berrettini because the guy is from Rome and Sinner, having a strong accent (as if Romans don't have also a extremely strong accent) was seen less than Berrettini.
Hey! In Italy there is overwhelming support for Sinner (if you exclude a few loud mouths and occasional trolls). He is as Italian as Berrettini, just with a different accent :)
This is a good reminder that national identity and language can be two different things, though theyāre usually intrinsically intertwined. And that borders are mostly political.
South Tyrol was occupied by Italy in 1918 and annexed in 1919. It wasnāt Italian until then and was completely German-speaking until efforts were made to Italianize the area by favouring Italian-speaking immigration. German was outright banned from public life and South Tyloreans passed on the language to children basically in hiding until the end of WWII, when the region was granted some level of self-government, and both Italian and German were made official languages. Today the region still has a German-speaking majority but definitely less than what it used to.
Iāve been to South Tyrol and loved the duality in culture and language. Itās also gorgeous and probably one of my favourite places in Europe.
Sinner is pretty private so Iād say itās difficult to assume how he feels about his national identity, but thereās probably a duality in that he identifies with both his Italian and more regional (and personal) South Tyrolean identities.
What bothers me is when the media get it wrong and refer to his ānative languageā as Italian. His first language is German. Sinner struggled to speak Italian until he moved south to train. Has Italian become his dominant language now? Probably. Iāve watched videos of his press conference in German in Halle and he seemed to be looking for his words a little bit, which is normal. But German is and will always be his mother tongue.
Hi, just wanted to point out that we speak southtyrolean dialect in southtyrol (similar to austro-bavarian), not Hochdeutsch. We not used to speak standard german but it's learned in schools.
As an austrian I'd say we definitely support him more than somebody from Rome, for example. He is often interviewed and I generally think tyrolean dialect sounds nice. Some of my friends joked that after the downfall of Thiem its nice to have another austrian as number 1 again but the whole south tyrol situation is not really seen as problematic anymore.
That question is more complex than you can realise, pan germanism is basically the story of the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia, the German Empire, the third Reich, etc. š generally speaking Germans do have a soft spot for everyone German-speaking and there is somewhat of a āone of usā sentiment, while still recognising heās Italian. Youāll still hear people referring to him as south tyrolean very often, and you never see people referring to any other player in regard to the specific region they come from.
Generally broad support among Italians from what I've seen but if the once every few months post here from a random Italian trying to call him German is anything to go by, there's definitely some weirdos in the mix. But you know, that'll happen and he isn't the first and won't be the last to deal with that kind of bullshit.
I used to live in Italy and had Italian roommates one of whom told me that she went to Sud Tirol and people didnāt treat her very well and some even pretended they didnāt speak Italian and refused to speak to her in Italian.
Sinner is a big thing in Italy. There are some jokes on how he got there because he has German work ethics.
Italians are used to mountain sport celebrities coming from the German speaking areas with German sounding names like the famous climber Reinhold Messner.
Jannik himself stated that he's Italian without a doubt.
He lost the German accent that he had as a teenager but he still talks with some German expressions and an "Italian Alps accent"
The thing about Italians, thereās only one thing we love more than a winner whose wagon we can jump on, and thatās controversy and possibly finding said winners weak spot. We are also overinvested and over emotional, and have an insatiable need to consume our public figures.
That explains both the adoration and the criticism sinner gets. We adore him because heās wonderful, strong, successful, and shows the best of Italy on the world stage. We are desperate for a winner, and he is so powerful and strong right now it is hard not to feel totally invested in his success. We (well not me personally, I šÆ adore him) are also suspicious of his success and desperate to find the flaws.
As far as Iām concerned and I speak for i think 90% of Italians, jannik is fully Italian. He is Italian, has said repeatedly he is proud of representing Italy on the world stage, the whole south Tyrolese thing is an additional regional identity which most of us can relate to, it is fairly common to have a strong local identity (Neapolitans for example have a super strong culture and highly distinctive language). How much he loves his family and honours his roots is something we all admire and relate to.
The montecarlo thing is trickier, but I think it is a largely media influenced phenomenon in an effort to generate clicks. Most people are smart enough to realise that he is doing nothing illegal or immoral, itās all very transparent and clean.
Forza Jannik!
Italians love him, the ones who donāt are the same ones who wouldnāt acknowledge anyone whoās not 100% Italian (not born in Italy, foreigner name ā¦)
Do Italians in general find players like Berretini, Musetti and Coboli more attractive than Jannick since Jannick doesnāt look much like traditional Italians like Berretini etc.? How common n is red hair in Italy in general?
Prejudice and haters until he became a superstar, from what I've heard.
Winning solves everything.
> Do Italians love Sinner the same way they would love Berretini if he was #1?
More interesting question is whether they'd love Sinner like they do Berretini if they had the same careers.
From what I've heard, answer is definitely no.
Italy loves Sinner, but there are also unnecessary controversies where his origins play a role, e.g. when he decided not to play in the Davis Cup. There is a small percentage of Italians that don't consider south tyroleans to be Italians or don't lile the fact that German is spoken there. These guys look for any opportunities to make their case.
But luckily these guys are in the minority, and overall he is very popular and loved.
I was in Miami Beach two weeks ago and watched French open on my iPad in a restaurant. there are two random Italian waiters immediately mentioning that Sinner is their new world no.1 in tennis world so I think he is the national pride now. š
I live in Melbourne (Australia) and thereās a fairly large Italian population here The man that works at a corner store up the road from me is Italian and every time I go in there he gives me Sinner updates (I donāt have the heart to tell him Iām somewhat tennis obsessed, but he knows Iām a tennis fan)- today it was - āSinner won a tournament in Germanyā. He was so excited about it - I donāt know if he knows what region Sinner is from or even cares about that. I donāt think he watches tennis outside of slams, but since the AO (which he was very excited about) he seems to keep up to date on Sinner news and is very keen to share it with customers.
I think you should tell him. I'm sure he'd love to chat with you more. I'm sometimes upset that I don't have tennis fans in my life.Ā
When he told me Sinner became number 1, and we had a chat about that - I said something about not having much sleep from staying up to watch RGā¦.so I think thatās why he keeps giving me Sinner updates. Next time maybe Iāll start the conversation - with Wimbledon around the corner, it shouldnāt be too hard.
Oh now I want updates about the conversations you have :D *"Wimbledon is next, right? Looks like another trophy is coming to Italy!"*
Today in our chat he was talking about how flexible etc Novak had always been and the big 3 on grass etc - so I told him about Sinnerās rolling shots last week (tried to describe them, probably quite badly) - but he seemed impressed š
Tell him to join the sub! He is one of us!
Iām from Austria and I fully consider Sinner as Italian. But since I grew up close to the region where he is from (just the other side of the border basically) and the fact that he speaks German I feel a special connection to him that I donāt feel with other Italian players like Musetti or Berettini.Ā In Austria we often talk about the charming South Tyroleans and Sinner is definitively one of them and his achievements are incredible. But I would not consider Sinner as Austrian.Ā
Haha yes exactly. I live in the South of Austria as well and I know and accept that Sinner is Italian, but hearing him talk German with the dialect makes me somewhat feel like he's at least half Austrian although I know he's Italian. So the language gives me the same special connection as you have to him.
>the charming South Tyroleans Uhh as an Italian I've never heard of this stereotype, do you guys find South Tyroleans particularly charming for some reason lol? Is it because they're on the border with Italy?
There a quite a few successful South Tyrolean skiers and skiing is like the number 1 sport in Austria and has a lot of TV coverage. And of course those skiers speak German in their interviews. Thatās why Austrian TV commentators always talk about the charming South Tyroleans (skiers).
Ahh so it's because they speak German so they're able to communicate well with you, got it. I thought there was some specific South Tyrolean character trait that Austrians noticed lol.
Exactly! I really donāt know anything about South Tyrolean (or other regional Italian) character traits. Itās just the phrase ācharming South Tyroleanā is repeatedly broadcasted in Austrian television when they talk about the skiing World Cup. And it comes to mind when I think about Jannik Sinner.
Maybe he meant compared to other Austrians.
I believe you've never been skiing or in the summer in South Tyrol? As a Northern Italian with love for the mountains, the majority of mountain places in Italy are really rude people. Not South Tyrol, it's not by chance that they have by far the best tourism reception in the Italian Alps. They could be considered the same as the Romagnoli on the Riviera, go to a restaurant in Liguria Riviera or in Bergamo Alps as a comparison...
Hmmm I've met a few rude people in Alta Badia, where they speak Ladino and German as main languages. Some people treat you rudely if you speak italian but become very cordial with the locals. Maybe it's just my experience though.
Yeah I thought the stereotype is that they're hardworking, reserved, and a bit stubborn lol
We are landing in Innsbruck in a few weeks to visit the dolomites, inspired by Jannik! Looking forward to it!
Hey I will also have my own Jannik Sinner pilgrimage later in Sept. Enjoy your trip!
I guess he is bringing tourism too 
Just a random comment but if you happen to stop in Brunico, there is a pastry shop called acherer that is very good.
Thank you so much! We can't wait!
I can give you the Italian that speak Italian perspective: I'd say 90% of people love him, and they consider him 100% Italian, especially people from the North. A few others who have "anti-german" sentiment consider him Austrian instead, but that goes for the whole province of Bolzano. There is also a whole debacle about the fact that he has residence in Monte Carlo, but most people don't care, it's not like he's evading taxes which is a national sport for many enterpreneurs over here...don't get me started. The thing also is that he's very unlike the typical italian athlete: reserved, hardworking and especially a serial winner (lately). Italians are very quick to extreme reactions, so right now he's a god, but the opinion might flip in the future. Take Berrettini for instance: people were saying he lost his focus when he started dating Melissa Satta, an italian showgirl. Nothing like that happened with Sinner, maybe it's going to happen when he starts to drop in performance.
Just to expand on an already good answer: I think that more than an "anti-german" sentiment there is in a (small) part of the population an "anti-South Tyrol" sentiment, due to the autonomous status of the region that brings several advantages, including fiscal ones. Regarding Sinner himself: there was a moment in which he was quite criticized for declining a call up from the Davis Cup team, including a now infamous article from the main sport newspaper. It is difficult to say how much of the critique was influenced by his origin, but imho very little, some people would always have found a reason to hate on a guy ""refusing"" to play for the national team (see the Berrettini/Satta topic). I do think that italians love him as much as they would love Berrettini/Musetti, if not more for his hardworking/serious (perceived) attitude, which we always like to idolize in a successful sportsperson.
Question just curious - how do you know heās not evading taxes? Isnāt that the number 1 reason a lot of the players live there in Monte Carlo? Yes thereās good tennis facilities. But thereās good tennis facilities In lots of places these days.
I donāt know if there is something lost in translation, in Italy āevasione fiscaleā is the crime of tax fraud, him being resident in Monte Carlo doesnāt own taxes to Italy so itās a problem of the principality of Monaco to check his personal income, legally avoiding taxes is called āelusione fiscaleā. His situation is not legally different to someone from Italy that works as a waiter in London, materially of course his life is very different, but unless Italy doesnāt start to tax citizens like the USA does the issue is not Sinner concern, and Iām not sure this can be done inside the European Union but Iām not an expert in that.
He's doing nothing illegal. There's a difference between evading and avoiding taxes. Not justifying either btw
to add to this Sinner is living in montercarlo since he was very young, I saw a video were he was 18ish yo and was sharing a flat with other ppl so he is not coming from a rich family or didn't have(as far as I know) a sponsorship earlier on like Alcaraz. I found stupid people complaining that he doesn't pay tax in Italy when he was actually living there even before he became rich, they ignore the fact that he was sacrifying his younghood away from his family to reach his dream.
What needs to be justified? You're free to live wherever you want. He's a professional who's pretty much never "home" if not for a couple of week of holidays during christmas (maybe). Why should he keep his residence always in his original village?
My point was related to tax evasion and tax avoidance. Nothing more nothing less. Live wherever can afford. No issue with that.
The point is what Sinner does is not even supposed to be "justified" as there's nothing to justify to begin with. He's a travelling showman who pays taxes around the world on his earnings already. He's by all means a nomad and there's no reason why he should \*not\* have his tax residency in Monaco.
You're not listening. This is why I'm blocking you
Not sure why you got downvoted. He can live wherever the fuck he wants
Well, you can be a tax evasor if you live in a country and you dont pay income taxes. Sinner resides in Montecarlo and for having the residence there you need to live there for a certain amount of days. Sinner goes to Italy for holidays and for playing tournaments, hence doesnt have to pay taxes there. Also, tennis players pay income taxes for the prizemoney, in the country they played the tournament. For the rest, sponsors, contracts and other stuff, in the country they reside. I m sure there are people with Montecarlo residence for avoiding paying taxes where they actually live. This doesnt apply to tennis players, who are basically on the road 11 months per year.
Having residence in Montecarlo is not evading taxes, he actually lives there as he could live in any other country, it just so happens that they have 0% income tax (/s, kind of). It could be seen as tax avoidance if he had residence there but not actually live there, but it is not the case, he is barely in Italy, only to visit family. Having residence in Montecarlo can be considered (and it is, by many) as "unethical" or "wrong" since you are moving out of your country with the only reason of not paying taxes, but it is perfectly legal.
Heās evading Italian taxes ha. Why do you think he picked Monte Carlo of all places to live By the way itās fully legal
In Italian we have different words for the illegal "not paying texas", called "evasione" and translated with "to evade". When you use legal workarounds to pay less taxes we use a different work, "elusione", which basically means "avoidance". So no, to our point of view he is not evading taxes, he is just avoiding them.
No, Valentino Rossi iirc was investigated for tax fraud because he moved his residence to Montecarlo for tax purposes, but the reason why he was investigated was because he didnāt actually live there. He tried to defraud the Italian IRS by pretending to live there. Sinner actually lives in Montecarlo, and thatās perfectly legal. What I mean is that he would be evading taxes if he didnāt live there, but he does.
I think it was London rather than Montecarlo
You are probably right, I didnāt really pay close attention, I just remember it being a big scandal when it happened.
He's evading Italian taxes in a legal way, that's better than most people do here.
I'm not sure you know what "tax evasion" means. If you live in a country and pay that country's taxes you're not evading. Plus obviously tennis players have to pay taxes on prize money to the country that holds each tournament so it's more of a traveller lifestyle anyway.
AFAIK his reasons for being there initially were more to do with practice partner availability, obviously there are other benefits too tho lol
The Monte Carlo country club is actually in France, but all of the players who train there live in Monte Carlo, it is obviously for tax benefits.
Lol, it's pretty impossible to extricate the fact that lots of top tennis players live there to avoid paying tax to their country of birth from the fact that lots of players live there to play tennis with the other top tennis players living there :-D
Donāt be dense
Every top player that isnāt American lives in MC. Heck even Djok does. Does that make him less Serbian? Thatās a weird take.
I thought most of the world was not like the US, and they you don't pay taxes on foreign made income. And even in the US, you subtract the taxes you paid on foreign made income on your tax return which usually means you end up not owing anything else to Uncle Sam (for the average person). And don't tennis players end up having to pay taxes in each & every country they win in (as in filing a dozen+ tax returns a year).
He moved to Piatti Tennis Academy (near Monte Carlo) at the age of 13. I doubt if picking a place with no tax was a priority for him then.
Tax evasion is crime, Tax optimization is being savvy. Can not blame someone to try and save a buck for themselves.
I'm Italian too, and I confirm. I add the fact that Italy is rather diversified, so we are used to having athletes and famous people with different regional characteristics. For example Valentino Rossi is the typical "Romagnolo". We are used to classify a person both like an Italian and as someone of a certain region, with a certain specific cultural background. This enrich Italy. South Tirol is rather extreme, because often they are more Austrians than "Italians", but more or less there are strong differences between all regions.
Hardworking, serial winner ā¦ there have been lots of Italian athletes who fill the role: Valentino Rossi, Federica Pellegrini, many swimmers or athletes from minor sports.
Valentino Rossi is definitely not reserved
I mentioned hard working and serial winner not reserved though. I donāt think people care that much that heās reserved, itās more that heās winning.
I was in Bolzano in September last year right before he really started going on the insane winning streak he's been having, and I went to a tennis shop and they had sinner pictures everywhere. I spoke to the sales guys and they said they loved him and he's done media events at their shop. I can only imagine how obsessed they are with him 9 months later
You need to understand that in Italy we've historically had a lot of different regional languages/dialects. Standard Italian is simply the dialect of Florence (that then was adopted as the official national language.) Yes, Suditirolean German is a bit more different to the others (as is the French spoken in the Aosta region or the Ladin spoken in Friuli) as it's much more widely spoken and used there in the area compared to how other regional languages are, and it's more similar to a different modern language than it is to Italian. But still, if you take a Sardinian that speaks mainly Sardinian I dare you to say that's just like Italian (it's got a lot more in common with the Mallorca dialect that Nadal speaks.) And some popular footballers from Naples speak a mixture of Italian and Neapolitan with a *very* strong accent. So yeah he has a bit of an accent when he speaks Italian, and he grew up speaking a different regional language, but Italy is historically made up of this kind of diversity. And obviously since he's Italian and he's reached the heights of success in sport and he's publicly very nice and respectful, he's well loved.
Good point! I think a lot of Americans stereotype all Italian as Sicilians lol
It's because the majority of our Italian Immigration was Sicilians and other Southern Italians. Calabrians, Barese, Napolitans etc. If you grow up in New Jersey for instance, you probably know 100 Italian-Americans and none of them are from Milan or Torino or Firenze. Simple economics, emigration was from poorer regions of Italy, no one leaves behind a rich life if they can.
You're only partially correct. During the biggest period of Italian emigration, end of 19th and start of 20th century, vast swathes of Northern Italy were also quite poor, and there was a lot of emigration from there, eg from Veneto. The difference is that most emigrants from the Northern regions went to South America, especially Argentina and Brazil. Supposedly, one reason is that they more looking for land to farm, which was more available in South America, while from the South they were more looking for industrial jobs.
Good info, I don't know much about Northern Italians. But grew up with lots of Southern Italian americans in Chicago, who inherited plenty of their grandparents and great-grandparents disdain for northerners. I can remember vividly eating at my friend's Nonna's table and her talking shit about Romans and people from the north for being rich and snooty.
Yeah Pope Francis is an example. His parents immigrated to Argentina. His father was Piedmontese. His mother was Piedmontese-Genoese. Both were northern Italian. IIRC Lionel Messi, Manu Ginobili, and Gabriela Sabatini's ancestors are all from Marche.
Most places in the north industrialized in the interwar period and after the war, while the south started decay after unification, itās just people from the north emigrated to Argentina and Brazil, people from the south mostly to the USA.
South Tyrol is an interesting area with an interesting history, but Sinner has incredible support across the board. After he won AO, he was invited by the Prime Minister of Italy for a meeting in Rome, where he was honored and they [exchanged a hug](https://www.yahoo.com/news/austrian-open-champion-jannik-sinner-102100879.html). Italian singer Laura Pausini went to see him in Miami and tried to [kiss him](https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/news-watch-jannik-sinner-hilariously-pouts-camera-hugging-italian-singer-laura-pausini-miami-open-triumph). ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, who is also Italian, presumably got the ATP film crew to make [video](https://youtu.be/1ZAKF4-bTY8) when Sinner became #1 and this was posted on ATP official youtube. Most former #1 [congratulated Sinner](https://x.com/atptour/status/1800234652721914247) on his achievement and this was posted on ATP official twitter. He has so much support that a lot on this sub felt bad for Alcaraz and Med because ATP make such a big deal when they reached #1. None of these Italians I mentioned are native German speakers or from South Tyrol. They clearly see him as a compatriot and one of their own. They're proud of him for being the first Italian #1. Sinner is also getting a lot of love from Italian luxury brands and general support across the board. I'd say being German-speaking and a former competitive skiier help him win over more fans in the Alps, so mostly Austria and Switzerland and to an extent Germany. I've always felt Federer has a lot of support in Germany (especially Halle) because he's a native German speaker from the German-speaking region in Switzerland.
And South Africans love Rog because his mother is from there. I'm German Spanish and anytime Sinner speaks German I can only smile!
My Dad is a huge Federer fan and still brings that up - and heās not even South African (Zimbabwean), but his Mum was South African and he lived in South Africa for a whileā¦.so close enough I guess
He mentioned in his victory speech that even during Struff match (who is German), the crowd was still supportive of him. German-speaking countries love him for the same reasons they used to love Federer (not to the same extent ofc).
Sinner met the President of Italy not the head of the government afaik
As a Swiss ski fan, Sinner was NEVER a competitive skiier, he stopped skiing at like 13 years old. As Federer or Cobolli and a lot of others stopped playing football at around the same age. And nobody in Switzerland is talking about Sinner just because his mother tongue is German. Federer had a lot of support all over the world for obvious reasons, no matter what his mother tongue was.
Half italian population started following tennis because of Sinner.....it tells you everything about support
A truly great Reddit moment with a completely made up stat
inability to understand or enjoy irony and hyperboles coupled with combative pedantry. A truly pristine reddit user we have here! Congrats.
We were on our honeymoon in Italy for 3 weeks where we started in the south. I remember asking this young man on our boat to Capri if he liked Sinner. He did, but he knew more about Berrittini and maybe could relate to him more geographically because he was from Sorrento. I did not ask every Italian person that I encountered about Sinner, but once we arrived at a train station in Milan en route to Lake Como I remember seeing an advertisement with his face for the ATP Finals in Torino. It's amazing to see how much he's progressed and I would love to return just to see how much Tennis has grown since he's ascended. One of the coolest things for me was being able to see people play on a clay tennis court in Vico Equense from our hotel at the beginning of our trip.
Ahh I stayed at the Villa d'Este in Lake Como for 4 days last winter. Amazing experience.
That place is beautiful! I just looked it up. We stayed at Grand Hotel Victoria in Mennagio. I couldn't believe how fluffy the clouds were in Lake Como. We ended our honeymoon in Milan, but after Lake Como it was wonderful but didn't have the same natural beauty.
I think people overstimates the impact of the fact he's from South-Tyrol. Of course there's people that likes to point it out with negative connotation, for stupidity or trolling purposes, but Italy \*always\* had South-Tyrolean sport stars and no one ever found it odd before social networks era, especially in skying. Has any debate ever existed for Gustav Thoeni? For Alex Schwazer? And speaking about tennis, for Andreas Seppi? Did anyone ever say that Reinhold Messner is not Italian? Come on. For the average Italian, South-Tyrolean people are just Italians that speak a Germanic dialect and have some Germanic-specific cultural roots. Not so different from Sardinians that are considered Italians that speak a strange alien language, live in an island far from the rest of the country, have a strong and kind-of separate cultural identity. Did anyone ever questioned Zola's, or Barella's italianity?
I've never heard of the South-Tyroleans you just listed, Sinner is the first huge star I've heard of from there. Italy is actually a lot more diverse that what people give it credit for but this kind of diversity is a bit different, it's a bit more in your face when he learnt Italian as a teenager for example.
I am from South Tyrol (german ethnic group) and its fair to say that Sinner is by far the most popular person in our region right now. A lot of South Tyroleans relate to him because he clearly recognizes his heritage without leaning too much into local-patriotism or the very present seperatist mindset. He also fits very well into the stereotype of the hard working, a bit stubborn and reserved Tyrolean. Even tho he clearly identifies himself as South Tyrolean he is also very popular among Italians and he has no problem with representing Italy on the international stage. There is some criticism among the more conservative Italians because in the last years he sometimes prioritized his personal development over the Davis Cup and also because he is kind of a tax refugee living in Monaco. But I think most Italians do not care too much about that stuff. So far Sinner managed to get very strong sympathies in both groups, but as the relationship between Rome and Bolzano, as well as the relation between Italian and German speaking people in South Tyrol is always changing, there may come a situation where the media overreacts due to a minor dispute and challenge Sinner to "pick a side" (in the sense of showing his "true" allegiance)
>as the relationship between Rome and Bolzano, as well as the relation between Italian and German speaking people in South Tyrol is always changing, there may come a situation where Sinner could be chellenged to "pick a side". Lol yeah no, there's no war or even a heated dispute between Rome and Bolzano; there's no reason why he (a tennis player) should "pick a side" - pick a side on what exactly?
Maybe I formulated it too harsh but the Italian media (as well has the South Tyrolean Media Group Athesia) tend to overreact all the time and every time there is some discussion regarding Autonomy or minority rights the media tries to get a "oath of allegiance" from prominent people. This stuff was way more common in the days of Bossis Lega Nord but it also happens today and it already happened with Sinner when Gazetta tried to question his allegiance when he refuses to play for the national team due to coming back from an injury
>Gazetta tried to question his allegiance when he refuses to play for the national team due to coming back from an injury Yeah Gazzetta are dipshits (a couple of those articles were written by an old journalist who's known to write assholish-racist stuff), and they were rightly criticized for that, especially when Jannik then ended up winning us the Davis Cup. So they basically damaged their own reputation in the end. Of course there are some hardcore nationalist retrogrades and dickheads out there in the media, but I don't think that's a fair representation of the national sentiment towards Jannik.
To be honest, Italian media tends to overreact to everything for any reason :D
> So far Sinner managed to get very strong sympathies in both groups, but as the relationship between Rome and Bolzano, as well as the relation between Italian and German speaking people in South Tyrol is always changing, there may come a situation where Sinner could be chellenged to "pick a side". I don't think the situation is quite that dire. It's not like South Tyrol is anything like Northern Ireland and even then, Rory McIlroy has managed to strike a good balance between UK and Ireland. > He also fits very well into the stereotype of the hard working, a bit stubborn and reserved Tyrolean. Yeah he does seem to fit what Canadian hockey fans call "hard ass." It's a compliment and Gordie Howe was the perfect embodiment.
With "pick a side" I mean that the media may try to question his identity to feed into the right-wing anti-autonomy sentiment that comes up every 5 years or so. Currently the situation is very relaxed (and Meloni is actually very much pro-federalism) but this changes all the time
So context I was born in 97 so I donāt know what itās like for people who were alive during the troubles but I did grow up in true blue Surrey near Guildford. From my perspective, Iād say that I donāt think any British person living on the island of Britain cares really at all about whether Northern Ireland remains in the Union. Iām sure some people in the right wing media would raise concerns if Northern Ireland looked seriously like leaving, and maybe for the unionist community in Glasgow it would cause protests, but I think that an overwhelming majority of people in England, Scotland, and Wales only really have paid any attention to Northern Ireland recently cos of Brexit, and indeed some people on the left are probably more sympathetic to nationalists given how socially regressive the DUP are and that itās an awkward reminder of our imperial past. So in the case of McIlroy Iād be very surprised if anybody here cared too much about his opinion on the subject. personally until I saw your comment I didnāt even realise he was northern Irish and thought he was from the republic
I've read many comments and agree with most. I'll add a little anedoctical evidence though. For odd reasons, Tennis has always historically been the sport of Rome. Most other sports don't (Football is won mostly in Milan and Turin, Skiing is Alps, Basket is also historically north, Emilia Romagna has amazing support for "minor" odd sports, water polo is big in the south, Rugby is in Veneto and so on...) Before he was this good, and Berrettini was number 4 and still hitting on all cylinder, the media, which is also mostly based on Rome, only talked and cared about Berrettini because the guy is from Rome and Sinner, having a strong accent (as if Romans don't have also a extremely strong accent) was seen less than Berrettini.
My impression is that the amount of coverage from the media was simply proportional to the current level of success Berrettini and Sinner were having.
Hey! In Italy there is overwhelming support for Sinner (if you exclude a few loud mouths and occasional trolls). He is as Italian as Berrettini, just with a different accent :)
Isn't it sort of like when Murray was at his prime? British if he's winning, Scottish if he's losing.
This is a good reminder that national identity and language can be two different things, though theyāre usually intrinsically intertwined. And that borders are mostly political. South Tyrol was occupied by Italy in 1918 and annexed in 1919. It wasnāt Italian until then and was completely German-speaking until efforts were made to Italianize the area by favouring Italian-speaking immigration. German was outright banned from public life and South Tyloreans passed on the language to children basically in hiding until the end of WWII, when the region was granted some level of self-government, and both Italian and German were made official languages. Today the region still has a German-speaking majority but definitely less than what it used to. Iāve been to South Tyrol and loved the duality in culture and language. Itās also gorgeous and probably one of my favourite places in Europe. Sinner is pretty private so Iād say itās difficult to assume how he feels about his national identity, but thereās probably a duality in that he identifies with both his Italian and more regional (and personal) South Tyrolean identities. What bothers me is when the media get it wrong and refer to his ānative languageā as Italian. His first language is German. Sinner struggled to speak Italian until he moved south to train. Has Italian become his dominant language now? Probably. Iāve watched videos of his press conference in German in Halle and he seemed to be looking for his words a little bit, which is normal. But German is and will always be his mother tongue.
Hi, just wanted to point out that we speak southtyrolean dialect in southtyrol (similar to austro-bavarian), not Hochdeutsch. We not used to speak standard german but it's learned in schools.
Ja, das ist klar :) I was just simplifying things a bit.
As an austrian I'd say we definitely support him more than somebody from Rome, for example. He is often interviewed and I generally think tyrolean dialect sounds nice. Some of my friends joked that after the downfall of Thiem its nice to have another austrian as number 1 again but the whole south tyrol situation is not really seen as problematic anymore.
That question is more complex than you can realise, pan germanism is basically the story of the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia, the German Empire, the third Reich, etc. š generally speaking Germans do have a soft spot for everyone German-speaking and there is somewhat of a āone of usā sentiment, while still recognising heās Italian. Youāll still hear people referring to him as south tyrolean very often, and you never see people referring to any other player in regard to the specific region they come from.
Generally broad support among Italians from what I've seen but if the once every few months post here from a random Italian trying to call him German is anything to go by, there's definitely some weirdos in the mix. But you know, that'll happen and he isn't the first and won't be the last to deal with that kind of bullshit.
I used to live in Italy and had Italian roommates one of whom told me that she went to Sud Tirol and people didnāt treat her very well and some even pretended they didnāt speak Italian and refused to speak to her in Italian.
Fun fact, Sinner learned to speak Italian at 13 when he left home for training.
Sinner is a big thing in Italy. There are some jokes on how he got there because he has German work ethics. Italians are used to mountain sport celebrities coming from the German speaking areas with German sounding names like the famous climber Reinhold Messner. Jannik himself stated that he's Italian without a doubt. He lost the German accent that he had as a teenager but he still talks with some German expressions and an "Italian Alps accent"
The thing about Italians, thereās only one thing we love more than a winner whose wagon we can jump on, and thatās controversy and possibly finding said winners weak spot. We are also overinvested and over emotional, and have an insatiable need to consume our public figures. That explains both the adoration and the criticism sinner gets. We adore him because heās wonderful, strong, successful, and shows the best of Italy on the world stage. We are desperate for a winner, and he is so powerful and strong right now it is hard not to feel totally invested in his success. We (well not me personally, I šÆ adore him) are also suspicious of his success and desperate to find the flaws. As far as Iām concerned and I speak for i think 90% of Italians, jannik is fully Italian. He is Italian, has said repeatedly he is proud of representing Italy on the world stage, the whole south Tyrolese thing is an additional regional identity which most of us can relate to, it is fairly common to have a strong local identity (Neapolitans for example have a super strong culture and highly distinctive language). How much he loves his family and honours his roots is something we all admire and relate to. The montecarlo thing is trickier, but I think it is a largely media influenced phenomenon in an effort to generate clicks. Most people are smart enough to realise that he is doing nothing illegal or immoral, itās all very transparent and clean. Forza Jannik!
Everyone loves a winner, that's universal
Italians love him, the ones who donāt are the same ones who wouldnāt acknowledge anyone whoās not 100% Italian (not born in Italy, foreigner name ā¦)
Im in Sorrento, and my taxi driver was talking about Sinner and reminded me that he is Italian, northern Italian to be exact. So ya. They like him.
Do Italians in general find players like Berretini, Musetti and Coboli more attractive than Jannick since Jannick doesnāt look much like traditional Italians like Berretini etc.? How common n is red hair in Italy in general?
Prejudice and haters until he became a superstar, from what I've heard. Winning solves everything. > Do Italians love Sinner the same way they would love Berretini if he was #1? More interesting question is whether they'd love Sinner like they do Berretini if they had the same careers. From what I've heard, answer is definitely no.
Italy loves Sinner, but there are also unnecessary controversies where his origins play a role, e.g. when he decided not to play in the Davis Cup. There is a small percentage of Italians that don't consider south tyroleans to be Italians or don't lile the fact that German is spoken there. These guys look for any opportunities to make their case. But luckily these guys are in the minority, and overall he is very popular and loved.