Since he took his first steps on the ATP tour, fans and insiders have noticed that Jannik Sinner has a really remarkable potential. The current world number 1 achieved its first big results in 2019, when he made himself known to everyone by winning the Next Gen ATP Finals that were held in Milan at the time. The Italian player needed a few years to build a game and a body adapted to the needs of professional tennis and the separation from his long-time coach Riccardo Piatti in 2022 was a painful and inevitable decision.
Novak Djokovic & Jannik Sinner, Shanghai Masters 2024© Stream screenshot
Jannik started a new collaboration with Simone Vagnozzi – who was later joined by expert coach Darren Cahill – and the fruits of this work arrived between 2023 and 2024. The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria has improved a lot in the last year and a half, becoming a consistent player throughout the season and dominant especially on hard courts.
Sinner has lost only six matches in 2024, winning two Major titles, three Masters 1000 and two ATP 500. The two-time Grand Slam champion works hard on his game and tries to find a solution for its few shortcomings. In short, the Italian ace has become a player that scares all the current opponents. Despite having already reached the first position in the ATP ranking, the Italian ace is convinced that he can improve and dedicates many hours to practice every day.
Schwartzman praises Sinner
In the latest edition of the ‘Nothing Major’ podcast, Diego Schwartzman – who won 4 ATP titles during his career and will retire in February next year – confided that he had noticed the enormous potential of Sinner right from the start: “Let’s choose one of the new guys. I think Sinner. I played him a few times.
Jannik Sinner, Shanghai Masters 2024© Stream screenshot
He was not even top 10 yet and I was saying ‘come on, what is this guy?’ Sliding, power, movements. Everything. I was saying… scary. It’s crazy. We played against Novak, Roger and Rafa. These guys are GOAT’s. But Sinner and Alcaraz, what they do with their body is crazy.”
Other controversies
Last month, Jannik reached the ATP final in Beijing losing to Carlitos Alcaraz in the decisive tiebreak before winning his fourth career Masters 1000 in Shanghai. After his victory in China, the 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria also won the ‘Six Kings Slam’ in Saudi Arabia. Thanks to this success, the Italian champion has pocketed a massive prize money of 6 million.
The Six Kings Slam has been a great success and will probably be repeated in the coming seasons. To win the tournament of sheikhs was our Jannik Sinner, who won a prize pool absolutely crazy, equal to 6 million euro. The other participants were also not bad, and they were guaranteed a remuneration of 1.5 million euro for their participation alone.
Six Kings Slam© Djokovic Facebook/Fair Use
Clearly the figures guaranteed by the event in Riyadh, much higher than all four Slams, made some insiders a bit of a nose, who thought it was exaggerated. The world number one, who in turn took home the highest prize pool in history, guaranteed that he did not choose this tournament for money, but to compete with the best players in the world.
“I don’t play for money, it’s very simple. Sure, 6 million euros is a lot of prize money, but I went to Riyadh because there were probably the six best players in the world and you can compete with them. It was also a nice event, it was my first time in Riyadh and it was very nice. When you come back as a winner it was more like saying, “Okay, I played the games in the right way and I hope this will improve me as a player for the future,” he said in an interview with Eurosport. Then he admitted, “Of course money is important, but not so much. I live well without money. It’s much more about my health, the family I have and being surrounded by the right people. Money is just an extra,’ he said.
During the China Open, the world’s number 1 also spoke about the controversy surrounding the ATP calendar. In an interview with Tennis Channel, former Pete Sampras and Roger Federer’s coach Paul Annacone commented on Sinner’s words: “I loved hearing Jannik Sinner say, ‘Yeah, that’s a lot of tennis. There’s too many tournaments. But if you don’t want to play, don’t play.’
Obviously, it’s easier when you’re one of the best players in the world, but if you’re going to be competing in year-end championships, trying to meet your commitments in terms of teams, sponsorships, partners, etc., it’s very difficult to determine when not to play. So it’s not as simple as that to say if you don’t want to play, you don’t play. But the structure of the professional tour is really fractured, and always has been.”