Italian tennis legend Nicola Pietrangeli has argued it would be premature to crown Jannik Sinner as the greatest player in his nation’s history after his 2025 Australian Open title defence.
Sinner delivered a stellar performance to defeat world No 2 Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the final of the Australian Open.
The world No 1, who won the Australian Open and the US Open in 2024, has now won three Grand Slam titles.
The 23-year-old’s victory has seen him surpass Pietrangeli to become the Italian player with the most majors.
Pietrangeli, who won the French Open in 1959 and 1960, was the first Italian to win a Grand Slam title and he is the only other Italian player to win multiple majors.
The 91-year-old, who competed from 1953 to 1973 in both amateur and professional tennis, holds formidable records for the most Davis Cup rubbers played (164) and won (120).
In an interview with Adnkronos, Pietrangeli said: “It’s right that he overtook me, records are made to be broken.
“But the accounts are done at the end, I wish him with all my heart to do even better. I was scary on the court, but not to everyone like him.
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“I don’t know if he’s the strongest Italian tennis player ever, he’s 23 years old. We’ll see when he’s 30. Now everyone’s talking about Sinner, but until two years ago no one even knew who he was.
“At the end of his career, we’ll see if he’s been the best Italian tennis player ever, anything can still happen.”
On Sinner’s win against Zverev, Pietrangeli added: “It was a walk in the park for Sinner. He’s now walking around the court. I said last year that this season Sinner will have to give his opponents an advantage.
“No one is at his level, and it’s not their fault. He’s too strong. I wrote that this final would end in three sets 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, and so it was. I also predicted the result, I expected it. Because he’s too strong.
“I think he could lose a match only if he slept badly or is feeling unwell. I don’t know what he can improve, he’s already number one in the world. You can see that he’s having fun on the court and that’s important.”
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