Photo Source: TTV
10,500 packed into Campo Centrale, like sardines in a tin can, on Saturday evening in Rome to celebrate the return of World No.1 Jannik Sinner.
They went home happy, after witnessing the world No.1 saunter to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Mariano Navone. The triumph marks a heavily anticipated return to the sport by 23-year-old Sinner, who had been serving a three-month doping suspension until this week.
That perturbing episode finally behind him, and with 104 days of rust to shake off, Sinner can now go about the work of rebuilding his comfort level on tour as he seeks to hit the ground running and re-establish himself at the top of the men’s game.
“Amazing feeling,” Sinner said. “I’ve waited quite a long time for this moment and I’m very happy to be back. It’s very difficult to have the right feedback when you don’t have any matches, but it’s exactly what I need. The best practice is the match itself.
“I tried to give everything I have, I think that’s the only thing I can do.”
And if Sinner can start his comeback by making history in Rome, where an Italian man has not won the title since Adriana Panatta in 1976, all the better. So far, so good, as the Italian shook off any nerves early and rumbled past Navone with relative ease to stretch his winning streak to 22. He has not lost since falling in the Beijing final to Carlos Alcaraz last October, and he’ll face Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong next.
2022 Rome quarterfinalist Sinner improves to 10-5 overall at the Foro Italico, and 8-0 in 2025 – he started the season by successfully defending the Australian Open title.
On a picturesque evening in the Italian capital, there was intense support for the Italian – who became the country’s first Grand Slam champion since 1976 last year when he won his first major at the Australian Open. Fans serenaded the three-time major champion with “Ole, Ole, Jannik” in the opening games, which saw Sinner save an early break point to hold for 2-1 before earning his first break of the evening in the next game.
99th-ranked Navone made his mark on proceedings as well. The 24-year-old hit the ball impeccably in the opening set, but could not find a way back from the early deficit as Sinner pushed through a deuce game to close out the set in 43 minutes, 6-3.
Sinner’s level dipped decidedly in the second set, but he was still able to stay out of hot water. He saved a break point at 1-2 to level, then used his first ace of the match, at 2-3, 30-30, to get to three-all.
In the ensuing game Sinner muddled four break points before finally squaring up and forcing a Navone backhand error to lead 4-3. It was a lead that would temporarily vanish, as Sinner smacked a forehand into the net to hand Navone a break-back for 4-4 in the next game.
No matter, the Italian needed six points to remedy the situation, and as the crowd revved up its energy one final time, Sinner broke for 5-4 and served out the match moments later to close out a special evening.
After the handshake, Sinner signed the camera, “Che Bello” for how nice, referring to the feeling of being back in front of his faithful fans on home soil.
“He’s a great player, especially on this surface,” Sinner said on court. “I tried to move the ball around, at times it could have been better, yes. In any case it doesn’t matter about the result today for me, it has been a remarkable day and I’m very happy.”