Speaker 2: “Sorry Jannik, can I have a word with you?”
Interlocutor 1: “Not now, I’m broken. Excuse me, who would that be?”
Speaker 2: “I understand how you might feel in a moment like that.”
Interlocutor 1: “He says? I do not think so. I had a chance to make history, but I failed?”
Speaker 2: “Failed? Explain better…”
Interlocutor 1: “Yes, failed. I can’t help it, that’s exactly how I feel. The audience was everything to me, I had already beaten them a few days before. For goodness sake, I didn’t have too many illusions, but… Wait a minute, you haven’t told me who you are yet. And above all, why did you violate the sacred temple of the locker room?”.
Speaker 2: “Yeah, the locker room. I remembered these spaces as less narrow. Twenty years have passed, I may not remember. Hey look, I took a look at the camp. But are the referees still there?”.
Interlocutor 1: “Are you kidding me? Of course they are there. Technology advances, but there is a limit to everything.”
Speaker 2: “Wait to say it… and what can I say… I also saw the seats for the fans in the stands. Prehistoric stuff…”
Interlocutor 1: “What are you mumbling about? Without the seats and above all without fans it wouldn’t be the same.”
Speaker 2: “Have you ever heard of artificial intelligence… oh well, never mind. I see you are too depressed to spoil more than necessary. I see you as too down in the dumps. What ever happened?”.
Interlocutor 1: “But you feel like joking. I lost a final. At my home. I could have written the best page of my career. And instead…”
Speaker 2: “And instead you will write it in the next few years.”
Interlocutor 1: “Thank you for the comfort, whoever you are, but I don’t need phrases or words of circumstance.”
Speaker 2: “No word of circumstance, it will definitely go like this”.
Interlocutor 1: “In the meantime, someone is already turning their faces and tomorrow the newspapers will point out that in key events I am not as lethal as I should be. I have the feeling that something is missing.”
Speaker 2: “But I am certain: something is missing”.
Interlocutor 1: “Please? What do you mean?”.
Speaker 2: “You’ll see. If I were you I wouldn’t give weight to comments or social media. You call them that, right?”.
Interlocutor 1: “Why, what do you call them? When I chose to change coach they criticized me. When I missed Davis they criticized me. And tomorrow too, you’ll see.”
Speaker 2: “And it will happen again. Oh if it will happen. But then you will be decisive in Davis’ victory, and they will quickly forget the past.”
Interlocutor 1: “Excuse me, but are you here to cheer me up or to bring me down?”.
Speaker 2: “I’m here because I know exactly how it’s going to go. Don’t worry, you will become the strongest Italian tennis player ever: number one in the world.”
Interlocutor 1: “Excuse me, but what are you looking for from me?”.
Speaker 2: “Nothing, I’m just saying dry the tears and glue the pieces together. Today is just the beginning of a wonderful story.”
THEinterlocutor 1: “I insist, who are you?”.
Speaker 2: “How careless, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. My name is Jannik Sinner, I come from the future”.
End of the story. Or maybe it’s just the beginning…