Jannik Sinner has faced criticism back home in Italy after announcing that he won’t play for the national team in the Davis Cup Final 8. The World No. 2, who led Italy to Davis Cup titles in 2023 and 2024, said he wants to focus on preparations for the next season instead of helping Italy defend the crown in Bologna next month.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner returns the ball to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas during the quarter-final of the Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis tournament in Riyadh(AFP)
It was long speculated that Sinner would not play in the Davis Cup, but it became official when the Italian Tennis Federation announced the five-man line-up on Monday, and the 24-year-old was not part of it. Lorenzo Musetti, Flavio Cobolli, Matteo Berrettini, Simone Bolelli, and Andrea Vavassori ere included for the Davis Cup, with Filippo Volandri as the skipper.
The decision to skip the Davis Cup did not sit well with Italian tennis legend Nicola Pietrangeli, who called it a “huge slap in the face for Italian sport.” While he hoped the four-time Grand Slam winner wouldn’t have other plans during the Davis Cup, Sinner — who won the Six Kings Slam event last week in Riyadh, is currently competing at the ATP 500 in Vienna and is expected to play the Paris Masters next week, before wrapping up his season at the ATP Finals, which conclude just two days before the Davis Cup begins.
Pietrangeli, who led Italy to Davis Cup glory in 1976, added: “I don’t understand when he talks about difficult choices. He has to play tennis, not wage war. When they mention the Davis Cup, I get excited because the goal of an athlete is to wear the blue jersey. But unfortunately, I’m talking about another era. I hope that during the Davis Cup, he doesn’t go and play somewhere else… Today, the world is too full of money. They leave their hearts behind…”
The Italian media, too, showed no mercy to Sinner. The front-page headline in Tuesday’s Gazzetta dello Sport translated to: “Sinner, think it over again.” An accompanying editorial criticised Sinner for remarking that he had already won the Davis Cup twice, noting that he had also just defended his title at a lucrative exhibition event in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.
“So you’re not going to return to Riyadh for another $6 million? If you win another Wimbledon, you won’t go to London anymore? Pasta, coffee … Every five minutes, you promote an Italian product. Do it with tennis, too,” the Gazzetta editorial said.
Responding to the backlash, Sinner explained that he needed a longer off-season to recover, rather than adding another competitive week to the end of his year.
The 24-year-old told Sky Sports Italy: “I’ve won the Davis Cup twice. My team and I made this decision because the end of the season is very long, and I need an extra week off to start training earlier.
“The goal is to be in top shape for Australia. Over the last two years, I haven’t been at my best due to a lack of time, so we decided this was the right move.”