Italian
fans are discontent with
Jannik Sinner's withdrawal from the
Olympic Games. The
world No. 1 will not participate in Paris 2024 after being diagnosed with
tonsillitis, much to the displeasure of Italian fans. He was also scheduled to
play doubles with
Lorenzo Musetti, but
Luciano Darderi took his place, and they
lost the chance to be seeded.
The
22-year-old's last tournament was Wimbledon, where he lost in the
quarter-finals to Daniil Medvedev in five sets. Following this, Sinner was seen
with his girlfriend
Anna Kalinskaya on Italian beaches before traveling to
Paris for the Olympic Village.
Sinner pulls
out of Olympic Games
Sinner was
anticipating his first Olympic participation, but a recent tonsillitis
diagnosis will keep him out of the tournament. The Italian world No. 1 must now
focus on the US hard-court swing and defending his title at the Canadian Open
in two weeks.
Sinner
announced the unfortunate news of his withdrawal on social media: “I’m
extremely sad and disappointed. Competing at the Olympic Games was one of my
main goals for this season,” Sinner explained in a statement. “I was really
looking forward to being back at Roland Garros and playing for my country in
this prestigious event.”
“However,
after seeing my doctors on Tuesday and waiting an extra day to give myself some
more time to see if my condition would improve, things unfortunately got
worse,” Sinner added. “As I said, this is upsetting for me and I hope to be
able to play the Olympics in the future. I was looking forward to competing
with my teammates and the rest of the Italian team, but for now that will have
to wait,” Sinner said.
![janniksinner](https://r.testifier.nl/Acbs8526SDKI/resizing_type:fit/watermark:Picture%3A%20IMAGO/width:1280/plain/https://s3-newsifier.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/tennisuptodate.com/images/2024-05/janniksinner-66546d333cdd0.jpg@webp)
Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros.
“As advised
by my medical team, I will now take some time to rest and recover to full
health. I’d like to wish the whole team Italia the best for this important
event and hope to be back stronger in the future.”
Legendary
Italian tennis player Nicola Pietrangeli also expressed his disappointment at
Sinner's withdrawal: "That’s bad news, too bad. He was one of the
favourites, he was ready and excited. He certainly would have gotten far. He
had a good chance to play it all. But these Italians... go up and down, one day
they're fine, another time not. See Matteo Berrettini for example."
Many fans criticized his decision on Social Media.
The main hope for a men's tennis medal is now out, although four Italians
remain in the draw, led by recent Wimbledon semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti. Here
are some of the fan reactions on X:
"Very sorry Jannik, but the most important thing is that you recover as well as you can and soon. You will definitely have another chance for the Olympics. Stay strong," one fan wrote.
"Don't worry Jan, surely you are the most disappointed of all, you will see that you will come back stronger than before and in four years with a dozen slams won you will also take Olympic gold, we are always with you."
"For tonsillitis to miss the Olympics! Absurd!"
"Sorry, and we wish you a speedy recovery. But I think I need to ask you some questions ... at one time tonsillitis was not disabling but manageable. What has changed?"
"Yesterday's missed start was a warning! 😪 What a bang! Sorry for you, who had put this as your most important seasonal goal. Now think about recovering, you will have time along your career to participate in the Olympics. Go Jannik!"