Riccardo Piatti said in a recent interview to Italian website Sportface that he would like Jannik Sinner to train with 19-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal at his Tennis Academy in Manacor. Piatti, who worked with Novak Djokovic, Ivan Ljubicic and Maria Sharapova in the past, has already contacted Nadal’s coach Carlos Moya.
Sinner has already practiced with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexei Popyrin. The 18-year-old Italian player qualified for his first Grand Slam Main Draw last August at the US Open before becoming the youngest male player in five years to reach the semifinal of an ATP tournament in Antwerp. Last November the Italian teenager beat Alex De Minaur in the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.
“I take Jannik from time to time with Popyrin and Tsitsipas. Now Alexander Zverev and Stan Wawrinka will be also arriving in Monte-Carlo. I already spoke to Carlos Moya because I want to take him to Monte-Carlo. Since there are no tournaments, I try to simulate training matches with some of the best players on the circuit, so that he learns things and manages to adapt to his style of play. He can learn by playing against better players than him. Jannik had a lot of time to work physically. In the field, we worked on the service to increase the rotation of the shoulders. He must have all the rotations and all angles. He has started to become a service player, not always pulling hard, but choosing the are well”, said Piatti.
Piatti thinks that this phase in Sinner’s career will continue for three years.
“Jannik was used to play three days a week before he was 14 years old. He still in a maturity phase that will last apparently three years. He has a lot of tennis to play. He has an enormous capacity to vary the rhythm with the reverse, in addition, of having a volley that is technically very good. Obviously he has many good things and he has other bad ones, and is very frustrated in games when things do not go as he would like. That menatlity will change with the passing of the years, but we can say that Sinner is on the right track to do great things in this sport”
