November 1, 2021 will forever remain in the history of Italian tennis and sport in general: with the new rankings published by the ATP, two Italians are in the world top 10 for the first time.
It had never happened, not even in the years before the open era, that two Italian tennis players were so high in the ranking: Matteo Berrettini, who has been at the top internationally for two years, is joined by Yannik Sinner, just 20 years old. among the best.
The official certification of the South Tyrolean entry among the best in the world came with the Masters 500 in Vienna and Sinner's qualification for the semifinals. Nothing to do for the final and for the final victory (then went to the German Alexander Zverev), but the result achieved is truly incredible.
And above all Sinner is still in the running for the ATP Finals which will be held for the first time in Turin: decisive, in this sense, the last Masters 1000 of the season, the French one in Paris-Bercy, which will see the challenge for the two places. remaining between the blue and three other representatives. We also consider the fact that, just two years ago, Sinner was traveling beyond 500th in the world and is now so high.
Whatever happens, it is already a success. It happened in the past that two Italians were in the world top ten, but never at the same time: Adriano Panatta came out of the top ten in 1977, while Adriano Barazzutti entered it the following year. In recent years, however, only Fabio Fognini has been able to celebrate his entry into the elite of tennis. In the women's field, however, we remember the feats of Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
Now it is useless to hide: Italy is among the reference nations in the world and can really aspire to victory in that Davis Cup raised to the sky only once in the years of Barazzutti and Panatta (as well as Bertolucci and Zugarelli).
Article Italtennis in history: two Azzurri in the top 10 was first published on Sports Blog.
