Attracts many South Tyroleans to Turin: Jannik Sinner © ANSA / ALESSANDRO DI MARCO
Jannik Sinner moves the South Tyroleans. This finding is not new and is now proven in numbers. However, foreign tennis fans are declining sharply at the ATP Finals in Turin.
10. November 2024
From Turin
One of the most important tournaments of the year begins for Jannik Sinner on Sunday evening. After the world number 1. missed the Masters in Rome due to illness, he is now playing in front of his Tifosi for the first time this season – and at the same time in front of many South Tyroleans. More than a thousand tennis enthusiasts from our country got tickets for the event in the Inalpi Arena to admire the South Tyrolean superstar up close.
As the Italian tennis association FITP announced at a press conference, 99 percent of the tickets have already been sold. In contrast to the previous year, when sales only increased rapidly after Sinner’s triumph at the Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto, the rush for tickets began in January. No wonder, as Sinner won the Australian Open at this point. 60,000 cards were already gone after the first month of the year.
More than 1000 South Tyroleans in Turin
The distribution of tickets between the countries of origin is interesting. While fans from 88 countries came to Turin last year, this year there are spectators from 101 countries. Curious: Last year 56,000 fans from abroad passed through the turnstiles, this year there are only 26,000. The reason for this is that sales outside the Piedmont region – and therefore also in South Tyrol – have increased dramatically. While there were around 57,000 fans in 2023, this year almost 90,000 enthusiasts come from other regions of Italy.
This is how the sales went. © FITP
“This year, Jannik’s overwhelming start to the season aroused such a desire among the Italians to participate that the offer was quickly exhausted and the foreigners were eliminated early,” explained FITP President Angelo Binaghi.
The fact that this year’s edition is the first since 2001 in which neither Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic takes part probably also plays a role. Sinner & Co. do not yet have the same appeal abroad that the “Big 3” had. The fact that almost all tickets were nevertheless sold shows that tennis still inspires the masses even without its golden generation.
