Jannik Sinner’s four-word response to Clare Balding as BBC host brutally shut down | Tennis | Sport
Jannik Sinner quickly shut things down when Clare Balding mentioned the World Cup during a live interview at Wimbledon. The reigning champion successfully booked his place in the semi-finals with a straight-sets victory over Jan-Lennard Struff, and later headed to the BBC interview for a chat.
The world No. 1 touched on the tennis and his friendship with countryman Flavio Cobolli, the ninth seed, who faces Britain’s Arthur Fery in Wednesday’s quarter-final. But he quickly stopped Balding in her tracks when she brought up the football and said: “Don’t talk about football”, as Italy is not in action at this year’s World Cup.
Sinner revealed that he had been keeping an eye on British wildcard Fery’s run here, discussing his five-set comeback victories over Grigor Dimitrov and Zizoi Bergs. “You are genuinely watching every match, aren’t you? So presumably, you’re going to watch Djokovic against Auger-Aliassime?” Balding said.
“I like to watch. I am a big tennis fan and also part-time tennis player! But no, I think it’s nice. I like to watch. Also, because here, you switch on the TV, it’s only about Wimbledon,” the four-time Major champion explained.
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Unless it’s about football. That’s big too,” the BBC presenter said. But Sinner wasn’t having it. “Don’t talk about football, thank you,” he cut in, before Balding apologised.
The top seed also jokingly tried to downplay the fact that Cobolli would be facing a Brit on Wednesday. “I love Flavio as well and I love watching him, but he is playing Arthur Fery. On the BBC, we’re quite behind our Arthur,” Balding explained.
“Yeah, and?” Sinner joked, before piling praise on the world No. 114. “We know that [the crowd is behind Fery], we accept it. But he had an amazing win, huh? We were watching yesterday, it was nice.
“Tough one for Grigor, but it’s a nice story. He was down with Zizou, he played here on Court 18, no? And a couple of times, double-break down, fourth and fifth. Finding himself in the quarters of Wimbledon, it’s truly special.”
However, Sinner will no doubt be cheering on his fellow Italian. Discussing his relationship with recent French Open finalist Cobolli, he added: “I know him quite well, of course, being Italian. He is a great character. I think also people love him because he is very, very authentic, and that’s just how he is, also back in the locker rooms.
“Very glad he found a house! It makes life easier if you are around the courts here. And of course, I follow him, I wish him only the best of luck. The more Italians we are, from an Italian point of view, the better it is. And there is also [Jasmine] Paolini as well, so it is amazing to see, especially here in Wimbledon, the most prestigious tournament we have, having three Italians fighting for it, it’s amazing.”
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