After mounting speculation in recent days, Jannik Sinner has announced a dramatic change in his career by ending his collaboration with all six members of his coaching team.
The world No.10 confirmed in a post on social media that he will no longer be working with Ricardo Piatti who has been instrumental in his development as a player. Sinner started to work alongside Piatti as a teenager and at the age of 14 he moved from Bordighera from San Candido to train at his academy as he switched his focus fully to the sport. Over the years the Italian has established himself as one of the most promising players on the Tour and has achieved a series of milestones. One of which included becoming the youngest man from his country to ever crack the top 10 last November.
“After many successful years together, my coaching team and I have decided to part ways,” Sinner wrote. “I’d like to thank Riccardo, Dalibor, Claudio, Andrea, Cristian and Gaia for everything they have done for me from the beginning of my career until now. Riccardo especially, he taught me many things that will forever remain a part of my tennis. Many special memories were made and I’ll always look back on the time we spent together fondly.”
There has been mass speculation behind the reasons as to what has caused the split. UbiTennis understands that part of the conflict was related to scheduling commitments. It is understood that Piatti wanted his player to play less heading into Italy’s upcoming Davis Cup tie with Slovakia. However, Sinner wanted to play in Dubai beforehand. He also wanted his mentor to be present at more tournaments. For example, Sinner played Wimbledon last year without Piatti in attendance.
“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to coach a talent like Sinner and I am proud of what we have achieved together. I wish Jannik all the best for his career to continue.” Piatti said in a statement.
The development also marks the end of Sinner’s work with second coach Andrea Volpini, fitness coach Dalibor Sirola and physiotherapist Claudio Zimaglia. All of whom have been working with him since he was a youngster.
There has been no official confirmation about who will be the next coach for Sinner but many top names have been mentioned as possibilities. Including Boris Becker, who had previously worked with Novak Djokovic, and former mentor to Stan Wawrinka Magnus Norman.
UbiTennis director Ubaldo Scanagatta points out that Sinner had expressed a desire to work with a super coach in recent times whilst speaking on Radio Sportiva. In his view, Norman would be the best candidate.
“It is a profile that seems more suitable for Jannik,” said Scanagatta. “I would like to mention that in his career he has taken two players like (Stan) Wawrinka and (Robin) Soderling from a position in the ranking similar to Sinner’s current one and led them to success. In particular, Wawrinka under his leadership has won three Grand Slams and reached the position of number 3 in the world.”
Sinner has won five ATP titles in his career and he is the youngest player to do so since Djokovic in 2007. In 2021 he became the first teenager to win an ATP 500 trophy, the second-youngest player in history to reach the final of the Miami Masters and the youngest to end a season in the top 10 since Juan Martin del Potro (2008).
