Jannik Sinner spent an hour with media representatives at the headquarters of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation on Wednesday after returning to Italy following his triumph at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Since arriving in Rome from Melbourne Sinner has met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. On Thursday Sinner will be received will be received by the President of Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella with the Italian team that won the 2023 Davis Cup in Malaga.
Sinner came back from two sets down to beat Danil Medvedev in an epic five-set final at Melbourne Park and lifted his first Grand Slam title. Sinner ended a 48-year-old Grand Slam drought for Italian men’s tennis by becoming the first Italian man to win a Major title since Adriano Panatta won the Roland Garros title in 1976 beating Harold Solomon in the final.
Sinner appeared at ease when he was on the brink of defeat during the Australian Open, but he managed to handle pressure very well.
“There is always pressure, but the pressure is something good. You have to take it in a good way. It’s always a privilege, because there are not so many players who have this kind of pressure. In another way, when you have pressure, it means that people believe that I can really do it”, said Sinner in his press conference after the Australian Open final
Jannik’s triumph at the Australian Open was watched by 1.9 million spectators in Italy sparking a wave of “Sinnermania”, but the 22-year-old Italian star is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
“Feeling the warmth of the people, their enthusiasm, that pleases me, but I am the same boy I was a fortnight ago. I am taking this popularity in my stride. I am happy to share all these emotions but it was only one tournament, and it’s possible that my results won’t be as good”, said Sinner.
Sinner has withdrawn from next week’s Marseille tournament and will return at the ATP 500 in Rotterdam from 12 to 19 Februay 2024. He turned down the invitation to the Sanremo Italian Song Festival.
“After my stay here, Australia is over. We will have to look ahead and get back to training. The aim of the season was to get slightly better results in the Grand Slams than last year when I reached the semifinals at Wimbledon. The first Grand Slam of the year went well went well but there are still three more, so the season doesn’t end here. My dream has always been to win a Grand Slam. Now I know what it means and the emotions it brings. I can’t wait to get back to work and try to feel that again. Planning will be very important in the coming months. Last year we took many moments in which I did not touch the racket. I will do a lot of work in the gym, in the last few months we have worked on the mental aspect. Now I will dedicate myself to the physical preparation and to resistance. In my mind, hard work, having the right people around and the right mentality are the most important thing ”, said Sinner.
Sinner beat Andrey Rublev in the quarter final, world number 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinal and Danil Medvedev in the final. The world number 4 is aiming to become the best player in the world, but he admits that this goal may take time.
“To be number 1 in the world ? There is a big difference between being in the top 5 and being in the topo 3. It’s the same between being top 3 and world number 1. You have to take things one step at a time. I am aware that I still need to improve my physical condition, my strength and my endurance. In terms of tennis, I can do everything a little better, particularly on my serve. There is still work to be done”,said Sinner.
Sinner looked back at his youth years when he had to made a decision between tennis and skiing. He won a national giant slalom skiing championships at the age of 8 before switching to tennis at the age of 13.
“I was very strong. At the age of eight I won the Italian Championships, then I struggled for a couple of years when fast disciplines were added to slalom and giant slalom. In the meantime I was also playing tennis and I thought that in skiing one mistake makes you throw the competition and you have to get up early in the morning, while I also like tennis because this sport made me grow as a person. Alberto Tomba is a legend. I hope to be able to ski with him soon”.
He won multiple Challenger titles but he made a major breakthrough when he won the 2019 Next Gen Finals title in Milan. He reached his first Grand Slam quarter final at Roland Garros in 2020 and became the youngest ATP 500 champion in Washington. He finished runner-up to Hubert Hurkacz in the final of the 2021 Miami Open final. He lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the 2022 US Open quarter final and reached the semifinal at Wimbledon in 2022.
Sinner won his first Masters 1000 title in Toronto, the Davis Cup Trophy and reached the final at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin losing to Novak Djokovic in the final. He started the 2024 season with his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. His results have contributed to make tennis a very popular sport in Italy.
“The most important thing is to bring as many people as possible into tennis. I am referring to children. All you need is a racket and a ball. Fabio Fognini won in Monte-Carlo in 2019, then Matteo Berrettini reached the 2021 Wimbledon final. We are doing something special for Italian tennis”.
Sinner decided to move to Bordighera on the Italian Riviera to train at the Piatti Tennis Academy to train under the guidance of Riccardo Piatti. His parents supported his decision and left him alone to find his way. His parents worked in a lodge. His father worked as a chef. His mother was a waitress.
“My parents are special because when I came back from school my parents were not there. They were working and I used to go to ski. When I came back home at 4.30 my mother used to be at home but I went to play tennis. My parents taught me a solid work ethic. That’s the kind of mentality they gave me: ‘If you want to reach something, you have to work. This kind of work ethic you can learn but most of the time it’s because your parents give it to you”.
Sinner wanted to thank his parents for giving him the freedom to choose whatever he wanted to.
“I wish that everyone could have my parents because they always let me choose whatever I wanted to. Even when I was younger I played some other sports and they never put pressure on myself and I wish that this freedom is possible for as many kids as possible”.
Sinner made the difficult decision to stop working with his longtime coach Riccardo Piatti and began to train with Simone Vagnozzi, who previously coached 2018 Roland Garros semifinal Marco Cecchinato. Darren Cahill joined Sinner’s team in July 2022.
“I wanted to throw myself into the fire. I wanted to try a different method. Who knows, maybe if I stayed there I would be even better than I am now. My team doesn’t need to be the best team. The important thing is that they are all good, normal people. That’s what I was looking for”.
Sinner warned young people to be careful about how they used social media.
“I don’t like social media. You see certain things but that’s not what they are. I watch TV series, for example in Australia I was watching “Animal Kingdom”, only that in Italy you can watch it only with VPN. There are times when I read a lot, I always have a book with me. There are other periods when I don’t read much”.
