Who always wins, who does it often, who should have done it and didn’t even come close. There is everything in our home sport that greets 2025 with great triumphs and inevitable disappointments. The image of a sumptuous Jannik Sinner is the most beautiful poster that our country can proudly frame in the gallery of key events: the most prized piece of the Italian silverware confirms itself at the levels of the previous year, repeating two other Slam feats, confirming itself as king of the ATP Finals and remaining on top of the world for 66 weeks.
Frightening numbers from a tennis alien, who landed on planet Earth to rewrite the history of a sport that he and his rival Alcaraz have decided to monopolize for the next fifteen years. Jannik ended the year with a nearly 90% win rate, reaching the final stages of all four Slams. Repeating the triumph in Australia (beating Zverev in three sets), triumphing for the first time – 3 sets to 1 over Alcaraz – at Wimbledon, and losing to his Murcian rival on the red clay of Paris (after wasting three match points!) and at the US Open as reigning champion. Jannik raising the most coveted trophy to the sky at Wimbledon is the symbolic image of a superlative season culminating with the second success in a row at the Finals (needless to say in the final against Alcaraz!) and the sterile controversy for the failure to participate in the highlight of the Davis Cup, with the fantastic Azzurri of coach Volandri, even without Jannik, capable of raising the third consecutive Salad Bowl by beating Spain in the final with Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli to set the tone the arena of Bologna.
Miracle volleyball
Our volleyball is also successful, as has often happened, with two World titles brought home in an almost unrepeatable year. Fefè De Giorgi’s Italy and the fantastic girls of the timeless Julio Velasco climb to the top of the world: the Azzurri do it by putting Bulgaria in their pocket, Egonu and his teammates in the wake of Paris put the World Cup – Turkey beaten – and the Nations League on the board, showing a superiority that enhances the entire Azzurri movement. To the point of pushing our club teams to emulate the national teams: Perugia with the men and Scandicci with the women won the World Cup, finishing in the best possible way, it was impossible to have a golden season for Italian volleyball.
Conte’s Napoli
Like the one that Conte’s Napoli is experiencing in football: the Scudetto n°4 at the foot of Vesuvius and the Super Cup bear the signature of the Lecce coach. The photo-finish title on his former Inter – who (over)lost the Champions League final with super PSG – is the photograph of his football: concreteness despite the spectacle. And what can we say, in skiing, of the fantastic feat of Federica Brignone, capable of becoming world champion in the overall at 34 years old after having won the downhill and giant slalom cups? A phenomenon like, in the long run, Mattia Furlani, gold at the Tokyo World Championships with a stunning 8.39 meters which makes him the youngest world champion in his specialty.
The pain comes from the engines: not even a 7-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, was able to lift the Ferrari. Indeed, the Englishman’s presence made the Cavallino’s fall even more resounding in the year in which McLaren confirmed itself as the queen of the team with Lando Norris taking over from Max Verstappen. There is a lot to work on in Maranello: we will no longer be able to ignore the redemption of the Red.