French Open 2020 has been quite fruitful for Italian tennis. Although their top-ranked men’s player, Matteo Berrettini lost in the 3rd round, both the men’s and women’s singles saw some new talent emerging and reaching the second week of the Grand Slam. On the men’s side, 19-year-old Jannik Sinner made his French Open main draw debut and reached the quarterfinal where he lost to Rafael Nadal.
On the women’s side, we saw Martina Trevisan reach the quarterfinals where she lot to Iga Swiatek.
Jannik Sinner lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets at French Open 2020
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Former Grand Slam champion Nicola Pietrangeli couldn’t hide his happiness after seeing his compatriots do well. A two-time French Open champion, Pietrangeli went on to make a bold claim about Sinner. The Italian legend claimed that Sinner will beat Rafa Nadal at French Open next year.
“Next year, in my opinion, the match we saw yesterday at Roland Garros between Sinner and Nadal will have the opposite result. It will be Jannik who will beat Rafael. Still, in my opinion, he is among the top ten players in the world. “From the fourth on, because Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer are in another category, he plays with everyone.”
Further, Pietrangeli spoke about Sinner’s behavior and what he will have to learn to start winning against the heavyweights.
“He has a perfect behavior, it is clear that he will have a little to learn, above all to win and to be ready for important challenges, because after the first exploits you have to get used to it.”
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Pietrangeli also lauded Trevisan’s run into the quarterfinals of French Open 2020.
“We have a good team if for ten years it was the women who drove Italian tennis, now we have a very respectable men’s team. We must remember, however, that we Italians are too much fans and not sportsmen, so even the Trevisan company is to be applauded.”
Interesting call from Pietrangeli. Sinner beat some big names on his way to the quarterfinals of French Open 2020. He beat US Open 2020 runner up Alexander Zverev in the 4th round and 11th seed David Goffin in the first round.
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