Anakina blog: An unforgettable year of tennis

It’s a great time to be a tennis fan in Italy

This 2024 has truly been an unforgettable year for Italian tennis. As a fan, I am still in disbelief at the results achieved by our players.

2023 had already ended really well, with the accomplishments of Jannik Sinner in the final part of the season, culminating in the conquest of the Davis Cup for Italy, which, although it is a team competition, was achieved largely thanks to him.

I knew that for 2024 there were the makings of a great season for him. Still, I never imagined that he would become so overwhelmingly the strongest player in the world, winning two Slams, three ATP Masters 1000, two ATP 500 and the ATP Finals (to which is added the victory at the 6 Kings Slam, which despite being an exhibition saw him dominate, in sequence, Medvedev, Djokovic and Alcaraz), finishing the year in the first position in the ranking with a margin of distance from the second in the ranking that gives him the certainty of still being up there at least until February, regardless of how the beginning of 2025 goes.

And then came the icing on the cake: another Davis Cup, this time won together with Matteo Berrettini, who despite the numerous injuries of the past years and also of this one that is about to end, managed to finish it as a protagonist, after having also won three titles.

Well, the more I think about it, the more I have to pinch myself to realise that, yes, it’s all true.

Once again, I can only confirm what I told myself in June when Jannik reached the number 1 position in the ranking for the first time: dreams do come true.

And this sometimes happens if you work seriously to achieve them. It is not enough to wish for it, nor is it enough to believe in it. You need to commit, taking all the time necessary to improve: the results are nothing more than the consequence of this incessant work.

To us, they may seem almost unbelievable if compared to a very recent past, but those who achieve them, in this case, Jannik Sinner, know exactly what they had to do to succeed and how they did it.

Recently, in an interview, he was asked to define himself in one word and, after thinking about it for a few moments, he said: determined.

I think that describes it perfectly.

He had a dream and, with determination, he searched and found the best way to pursue it until he turned it into reality. It was not magic, nor luck, but just the result of his work.

I don’t know about you, but I find all of this not only a source of great inspiration, but also absolutely reassuring.

And what makes it even more so is the fact that Jannik Sinner’s success is by no means an isolated case.

There is that of Jasmine Paolini, who, at 28, had a season full of satisfaction. Not a sudden flash of brilliance, but a series of important results throughout the year: one WTA 1000 and two Slam finals in singles, as well as many excellent placings in most of the tournaments she participated in, two WTA 1000, one WTA 500, one Slam final and one gold medal at the Olympics in doubles together with Sara Errani, participation in the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles and, once again the icing on the cake, the victory with the national team of the Billie Jean King Cup, playing both singles and doubles (thanks also to the significant contribution of Lucia Bronzetti as the second singles player in the semi-final and final), which she had only just missed last year.

Added to all this is, the fact, that she finished the year as world no. 4, something no other Italian female tennis player has ever achieved.

I have already mentioned Jasmine’s doubles successes with Sara Errani, but in 2024, the latter won another Slam (in addition to the five she won with Roberta Vinci in the past), this time in mixed doubles with Andrea Vavassori.

And then Vavassori himself together with Simone Bolelli reached two Slam finals this year, won two ATP 500 and one ATP 250, participated in the ATP Finals, won the Davis Cup with the national team and is still in the top 10 of doubles.

Finally, we have the already mentioned three titles by Berrettini (who reached ten in his career), to which the first ever by Luciano Darderi and the fourth by Lorenzo Sonego (who can now boast of having won a title on all surfaces and in all conditions) have to be added.

In practice, this year, almost every week we had one or more Italian tennis players in the final and in many cases winners of titles. Such exaggerated stuff!

What can I say except that it’s a great time to be a tennis fan in Italy?

I can only be happy about it.

And, right now that this year is about to end, I just want to stop to enjoy this moment and all the serenity it brings to my life.

I don’t know what will happen next season, but certainly nothing and no one will be able to take away the satisfaction I felt during 2024.

I did not take the photos in this article from the internet. I took them myself.

I was lucky enough to see in person the girls triumph in Malaga, at the Billie Jean King Cup, on 20 November and the boys win the quarter-finals (on 21 November) of the Davis Cup which they would then conquer a few days later.

Over the years I have managed to see many Italian players play live (some, like Sonego, on more than one occasion), but this time I was able to add to my personal “collection” Lucia Bronzetti, Jasmine Paolini, Matteo Berrettini (who had “escaped” me in the past) and above all my favourite tennis player for some years now (well before he became the favourite of half the world!): Jannik Sinner.

I saw him play and win literally a few steps away from me in both singles and doubles.

I was able to observe first-hand his great concentration, his strength, speed and precision, the way he isolates himself from the thousands of people around him and faces each point. I perceived precisely that determination that he himself later spoke about and I let myself be inspired by it, directly noting with all my senses that, in reality, there is nothing incredible, miraculous or magical.

It’s all simply true.

And this is another satisfaction that no one can take away from me.

An unforgettable year of tennis

It’s a great time to be a tennis fan in Italy

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