Jannik Sinner made history at Melbourne Park. He won the title of Australian Open with a spectacular comeback in the final against Daniil Medvedev, he lifted his first Grand Slam trophy and became the first Italian player to shout champion of a “great” outside Roland Garros. His consecration may have been surprising because of the form: that 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-3 against the Russian, third in the ranking, made him only the eighth tennis player to overcome a disadvantage 0-2 in sets in the final of a Major in the Open Era; but not for the final result. The world number four, 22 years old, is one of those talents destined to achieve great things. Although until not long ago, he looked like he would do it on a snowy court, not with a snowshoe in his hand.
Sinner was born in San Candido, a town in the middle of the Italian Alps, on the border with Austria, home to one of the most famous ski resorts in Italy. Little Jannik learned from a very young age to slide down the slopes of the icy mountains on skis. He even became national slalom champion in 2008 and runner-up in 2012 and one of the great promises of his country in that winter sport, which was his great passion, ahead of football.
He had discovered tennis when he was three years old, but that discipline was far from being a priority. He only practiced it as a hobby and when he was seven years old, he went twelve months without touching a racket. But at 14 he decided to change course, leave his hometown and settle in the academy of Riccardo Piatti in Bordighera.
“Skiing was dangerous. A bad fall can jeopardize an entire season. You can play tennis all year round. But the most important thing is that in tennis you see your rival. You know if you are ahead on the scoreboard or behind, if “You must change something or not. In skiing you go down alone and you don’t know if you are the fastest or the slowest, you only see red and blue doors,” he once explained.
This Sunday, standing on the cement of the Rod Laver Arenaembracing the trophy of the “great” oceanic, assured that he owed this enormous achievement that he had just achieved, above all, to his parents, both closely linked to skiing (although also fans of tennis), who gave him the freedom to follow his own way.
“I have perfect parents, they are incredible. I wish everyone had parents like mine. They always supported me and never pressured me. That is perhaps the key why I am here,” she stated.
He added: “I left home when I was 14, so I had to grow up quite quickly, but that was perhaps the quickest way to mature and improve. For me it was hard, but for parents leaving their 14-year-old son is not easy either.”
The late start to competitive tennis did not pose a difficulty for Jannik. He is the owner of a natural talent, under the tutelage of Piatti – who knew how to collaborate with great stars, including Novak Djokovic– began to evolve quickly.
Sinner with Piatti, his first coach, after winning the 2019 Next Gen Finals. Photo Instagram @janniksin
With almost no participation in the junior circuit, he started playing Futures -today ITF World Tour, the first step of professional tennis- at only 15 years old. In February 2019 she won her first Challenger and in August of that year, when she had just turned 18, she debuted in the main draw of a Grand Slam, in New York. On Sunday, in her 17th main draw in that category, she won her first title. Another one who won his first Major after 16 failed attempts? A Roger Federer.
That 2019 marked a turning point in Sinner’s career and life. The Italian closed that season with a consecration in the Next Gen Finals of Milan, to which he arrived as a guest and defeated in the final Alex De Miñaur. He was recognized by the ATP as the Revelation of the Year. And she took on the “future Grand Slam champion and potential number one” backpack.
“My path was very fast. You are living everything and trying to improve. You don’t even realize how fast things are going. Today I have to realize what I have done, this is one of the most important titles in our sport. But on the other hand, I also know that I have to continue working for other occasions,” she reflected after his consecration in Melbourne.
Sinner and his team. To the left of the champion, Vagnozzi and Cahill, his coaches since the end of 2022. AP Photo / Andy Wong
Right-handed and with a two-handed backhand with a lot of top spin, aggressive on the court and very agile and quick to move despite his 1.88 meter height, for several seasons he has had tennis comparable to that of the best, but the great results did not come. Therefore, in mid-2022, he made a big bet. He felt that he needed a change, so he ended his sporting relationship with Piatti and teamed up with his compatriot Simon Vagnozzi and the Australian Darren Cahill. And he took another huge leap.
Last year, he won his first Masters 1000, in Toronto, and reached the fourth step of the ranking, its best position. And reached the final of the ATP Finals of Turin, an instance in which he lost to Djokovic, whom he had beaten in the round robin and whom he defeated again a week later, on the way to winning the Davis cup.
And at the start of 2024, he fulfilled his dream of lifting a Grand Slam trophy, in an Australian Open in which he played at a superlative level and dropped to three top 5s in a row: in the quarterfinals he beat Andrey Rublev (5th), in the semis he destroyed Djokovic (1st) and in the decisive duel, Medvedev (3rd), against whom he lifted a match that the Russian had in his pocket.
Since 1973, when the ATP rankings began to be compiled, only two other players had managed to beat three rivals ranked among the best five in the last three rounds of a “big” hard court: Federer in the US Open and himself. Absent in Melbourne, both in 2012. And only once in the Open Era, a tennis player had turned around a 0-2 in sets in the final of this tournament: Rafael Nadaltwo years ago, when he lifted the trophy after winning 2-6, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4 and 7-5 against… Medvedev.
Throughout the two weeks of competition, the Italian also showed enormous mental strength and did not let himself be overwhelmed by the expectations generated by his great present.
“Knowing my body and my team better was a very important step for me. Last year I had very good results. That made me believe that I can compete against the best players in the world. Now I have to process what I have done, it is a great moment for me and my team. The process and hard work occasionally pay off,” commented the player who became the third player from his country to win a Grand Slam (the second in the Open Era), after Adriano Panattain Roland Garros 1976, y Nicola Piatrangelialso in Paris in 1959 and 1960.
“There is always pressure when you play a Grand Slam, but that is a good thing, it is a privilege. I like to be inside the storm of pressure, where I bring out my best tennis,” concluded Sinner, the former ski prodigy who has just made history in Melbourne. And it goes for more…
2024-01-28 22:50:01
#decision #due #danger #changed #life
