The Val Fiscalina region, in northern Italy, is a valley in the northern part of the country sky blue. This destination, full of snow in winter, is a great tourist attraction for those who visit the mountains and, above all, for those who like skiing. But it is far from being a “hotbed” of tennis players or a place for them to proliferate. However, A boy from San Candido (30 km from the valley) was the exception.
Jannik Sinner was born on August 16, 2001. Son of Johann and Siglinde, he grew up in a ski lodge. The reason? Her parents worked there: he as a chef and she as a waitress. That is why from the age of three he began to dedicate himself to the dominant sport in the mountains, but with a small tennis racket that began to appear at a young age due to his father’s pleasure.
However, mountain sports weighed more. Between the ages of eight and twelve, Sinner was one of the best skiers in Italy as he won a national giant slalom championship and four years later was runner-up. The legend says that that second place was what ended up encouraging the Italian to change snow for tennis. although he once said: “I am a very normal boy who grew up in the mountains and loves winter sports, but they were too risky for me, that’s why I opted for tennis.”
Jannik Sinner with his first Grand Slam trophy: the Australian Open 2024. Getty
One of the main architects of all this change was Massimo Sartori, also a native of South Tyrol and who in the past was coach of Andrea Seppi (former Top 20). “I met Jannik when I was 13. Alex Vittur pointed him out to me. That day I would have liked him to play against Seppi, who couldn’t play because he had back pain. I played with him. After an hour I was exhausted” he recalled in a talk with Where Tennis
From there he went to Riccardo Piatti Academy in Bordighera, in the Liguria region. This coach, who had already collaborated with Novak DjokovicIvan Ljubicic, Richard Gasquet, Milos Raonic or Garbiñe Muguruza took charge of a young Jannik. The trip was alone and he had to live for a time with the family of one of his coaches, Luka Cvjetkovic. “I think it was the right choice for me. I just tried it. My mom and dad helped me a lot, because without them this kind of thing is not possible,” he revealed over time.
Sinner began to grow and became a professional long before his peers. Having entered the sport “late”, his path as a junior on the ITF circuit was very short. He only played 26 tournaments in a three-year span (2016 to 2018) and never played in a Junior Grand Slam tournament. Furthermore, he was only champion twice in minor tournaments (Doha and El Prat).
In 2018, at only 17 years old he made his debut on the Challenger circuit (Como) with a fall against the Slovakian Andrej Martin. His first success there would be a couple of months later, in Ortisei, against his compatriot Luca Giacomini being just a member of the Top 870. LWhat seemed like slow growth ended up becoming explosive. In 2019 he was champion in Bergamo, Trento, Santa Margherita Di Pula, Lexington and Ortisei, in addition to making his debut on the ATP circuit (Budapest after overcoming the qualy) and compete for the first time in Masters 1000 and Grand Slam.
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The icing on the cake of that great 2019 was the Next-Gen Finals. That event, which emerged in 2017 as a U21 Masters Tournament, quickly catapulted him to local stardom. He debuted in Milan against Frances Tiafoe and not even a loss on the last date of the Round Robin against Ugo Humbert stopped him on his way to the title. The final was against Alex de Minaur in straight sets and not only Italy was beginning to get excited about him, but the entire tennis world.
In 2020 the media began to label him as “Baby Federer” or “The next Roger Federer” due to his style of play and because the same watch brand that sponsored the Swiss also began to do so with the Italian.. However, Sinner did not think about that and continued developing his career as one of his own. In 2020 came his first ATP title (250 in Sofia), in 2021 his first 500 level trophy (Washington) and in 2023 his first Masters 1000 (Toronto) in addition to leading his beloved country to glory in the Davis Cup, in a historic achievement since they had not been champions since the 1976 edition.
The growth did not stop and he began 2024 as champion of his first Grand Slam tournament. Like Roger Federer, in his 17th attempt Sinner was champion in a ruse that added a victory over Novak Djokovic (undisputed king of Melbourne) and an epic comeback from being two sets down. against a rival like Daniil Medvedev who already had many finals of majors behind their backs.
We can say little about Sinner’s future, other than predicting that he will be in the main positions and in the defining rounds. His level indicates this, in addition to giving a leap in quality to the sport with the rising rivalry (in the good sense of course) that is being generated with Carlos Alcaraz, the other young star that this sport has. What we do know is that tennis is and will be in good hands for a long time.
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2024-01-28 18:51:16
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