But what would have been said and written if Antonio Cassano or Mario Balotelli had sent the President of the Republic to the floor by refusing to go to the Quirinale because he had already booked his holidays? And without going to Cassano and Balotelli, of whom it would have been said and written that they are crazy heads and will never mature, what would have been said and written if it had been the national football team, with Luciano Spalletti in the Caribbean? Or if it had been a club like Inter or Milan or Juventus? And to leave the world of sport: what if it had been a Silvio Berlusconi who ridiculed Sergio Mattarella by saying that he was at Villa Certosa?
Instead, no one says a “ba” about the unprecedented rudeness of the Italian tennis players – and of its managers, above all – who responded in spades to Colle, who had already announced, via tweet, that on 21 December the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella ( I repeat: the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella) would have received, greeted, rewarded, praised and praised our heroes who won the Davis Cup.
Nobody says anything, or rather everyone says something to belittle, soften, attenuate, minimize. The sports newspapers, then: woe betide anyone who says something that could dirty the toy. “No problem, the president told our heroes they can come whenever they want.” Of course: the doors of the Quirinale are always open, there is no need to warn, there is always something ready.
It’s just that there’s always a need for heroes, for cover characters. A Davis Cup that is not even remotely comparable to what it was, and which the Azzurri won in Chile 47 years ago, has been celebrated as the conquest of the Moon. Just to make it clear: we are talking about a tournament in which the quarter-finals were played from November 21st to 23rd; the semi-finals on November 24 and 25; the final on November 26th. And we played the best of three matches and, each match, the best of three sets. Two races were enough to win Davis. One weekend was enough. Go and see how and when it was played, when the Davis Cup was really the Davis Cup.
But for heaven’s sake: Jannik Sinner is a champion and will become number one in the world, so it’s right to celebrate. We are all for him. But should this prevent us from calling things as they are? You can’t say no to the President of the Republic, come on. It’s not done. Does not exist.
And with what reasons, then, was it said no. From Fabio Fazio, Sinner explained that on December 21st some players will be in the Maldives. And the president of Federtennis, Angelo Binaghi: “The kids had already booked their holidays”. Never let them lose their deposit.
Someone motivated the rudeness with the tensions between Binaghi himself and the president of CONI, Giovanni Malagò. But even if that were the case, who cares. The rudeness remains. And if it was the players who said they were already busy for the holidays, there had to be someone – some tennis or CONI manager, or the Sports Minister – to intervene to precept them. To tell them: you’re going to the Quirinale, period.
It’s a very ugly, squalid, vulgar page, but you don’t say it because the party shouldn’t be spoiled, the heroes shouldn’t be sullied. It will end with honeyed pages when, sooner or later, our Davis heroes will have some time to go to the Quirinale.
By the way: sooner or later? It seems that until the end of January we won’t even talk about it. Mattarella, who is a gentleman, said “come whenever you want”. When perhaps it would have been better to answer: but go to Monte Carlo and celebrate.
