The Italian Open 2024 has had its fair share of controversies. But some players have had their fun moments too by being a good sport. They attempted to answer the question – ‘What ages best in Italy?’ as they participated in a quiz conducted by Tennis Channel.
While most players had the usual suspect ‘Wine’ as their answer, Tommy Paul had the most creative and witty answer of them all. He did not name a thing but a player called Jannik Sinner.
Tennis Channel captioned a video on Instagram which featured the quiz, as the following:
“Inspired by the Beauty of Rome.”
In the video, Tommy Paul was quoted as saying –
“Sinner is becoming more beautiful every year. Every match he wins, he is getting more and more beautiful.”
View this post on Instagram
Although Sinner is currently missing the Italian Open, his home tournament, owing to his hip injury, he is being missed dearly by players and fans. Tommy Paul was merely paying tribute to the 22-year-old Australian Open winner in his typical, humorous style and it garnered many reactions on social media:
To be fair on him, Sinner deserves such praise for his resurgence as a player from the last season until now. But this is not the first time Tommy Paul has made an eye-grabbing comment on Jannik Sinner. The American is clearly starstruck with his opponent, something very rare to see in competitive tennis.
Tommy Paul and His Epic ‘Naked’ Comment for Jannik Sinner
A couple of months ago, when Jannik Sinner and Tommy Paul both made it to the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells 2024 tournament, Paul was full of praise on the Italian star. Once again, it was in a typical Tommy Paul manner, which required decoding.
Speaking on Sinner’s magnificent run, Tommy Paul said the following in a press conference (as per The Express) –
“He’s absolutely playing naked right now.”
Now, while the gesture was understandably positive and praiseworthy, Tommy Paul still needed to clarify his choice of the word ‘naked’ in this context.
“The Argentinians get it. My fitness trainer taught me a term that they use in Argentina. When somebody is playing unbelievable, it means, like, they say they’re playing naked,” Paul added.
View this post on Instagram
Therefore, it was just another way for Tommy Paul to say that Jannik Sinner has been in exceptional form. Paul was referring to his fitness, strength, and conditioning trainer named Franco Herrero.
Luckily for Paul, he would not have to face Jannik Sinner at the Italian Open at all. The American will next play the 2nd seed Daniil Medvedev in the Round of 16 on Tuesday.
