Jannik Sinner attended the 2024 Supertennis Awards along with many other Italian tennis players who have performed a great season. The world number 1 has won among other things the Australian Open, US Open, ATP Finals and Davis Cup this season.
The Italian, interviewed by Supertennis, said the best thing of the year has been the affection of the crowd and fans. Especially considering how he and his team have had some difficult moments.
“You only see what you see on the court and there I have done incredible things. Off it, a lot of things have happened. I have had honest people around me, we have held each other tight, there have been difficult moments and now I still have the opportunity to thank my team, the people who are close to me and the public who have supported me since January 1st,” he said.
The world number 1 has won among other things the Australian Open, US Open, ATP Finals and Davis Cup this season.
In the same interview with Supertennis he added: “We are obviously all very happy with this season, we had a great year, we ended the year in the best possible way with the victory of the Billie Jean King Cup and then us with the Davis Cup. It couldn’t have ended better. A great job but it is the result of many years of commitment. An important commitment and therefore we are all happy.”
Jannik Sinner & Novak Djokovic, ATP Finals 2023© Stream screenshot
Sinner won the Davis Cup with Matteo Berrettini and the other Italian players. Precisely about this the ATP No.1 said how obviously in the Italian team he has always felt safe, as with his teammates they are good friends even off the court.
“When you play against someone you have to lose a little bit of friendship but the respect is always the same. Speaking from my personal side, I have done many things. I am happy with the steps I have taken. If someone is happy off the court, then they bring it on the court,” he said.
Sinner also said that for Christmas – being a special moment for him – he hopes to be calm and celebrate with his family and, even if he doesn’t know where he will be yet, he would like to be at home with his parents.
And regarding next year, Jannik was very cautious, also perhaps because of the doping issue: “You never know what will happen in the future. I hope we will have a peaceful year, with important improvements and many positive things. I don’t just wish it for myself but also for all the athletes here and the people around me.”
Novak Djokovic & Jannik Sinner, ATP Finals 2023© Stream screenshot
Meanwhile, the change of technical guide, from Riccardo Piatti to Simone Vagnozzi after the 2022 Australian Open, was one of the crucial and important points in Jannik’s career. After his first top 10 finish, the Italian was able to transform himself and improve further from a tactical and physical point of view by relying on his new coach. The path he took has actually borne fruit in this last year and a half, after just as much time spent working and learning from defeats. Now Jannik and his team are enjoying their first triumphs at the Slam level and the number one in the world, with the goal of not wanting to stop at all.
In the interview given to Esquire Australia, the 23-year-old revealed what he has learned and assimilated most in this experience of working with the coach from the Marche.
“When Simone joined my team, he gave me seven or eight pieces of information per match. I honestly didn’t understand anything. He told me: Every now and then you do a slice. But I didn’t know how to do it, so we made a lot of changes. It’s a shot that I don’t do technically correctly, because I hold the racket with two hands. However, I feel more confident now. Simone is good because we talk a lot and he doesn’t impose rules on me.
He asks me to be more fluid and with the right distance. Touching the ball in the right way also means spending less energy. I’ve matured, I understand myself more. It may seem stupid but knowing yourself is fundamental. I worked a lot on it with the sports psychologist Riccardo Ceccarelli. Sometimes I lost matches because I spent too much energy, cramps started, discomfort. But when I started to admit that I had made a mistake, I made small steps forward. In competitions it’s easier for me, I easily forget the mistake. In training instead I try to improve quickly,” he explained.
Jannik Sinner, ATP Finals 2023© Stream screenshot
During the long interview with Esquire Australia, Jannik opened up and explained in detail what happened in 2024.
“It was a tough time. I couldn’t talk to anyone. I couldn’t vent or ask for help. Everyone who knew me and watched me play understood that there was something wrong with me. I had sleepless nights, because even if you are sure of your innocence, you know that these things are complex. Everyone immediately told the truth and that allowed me to play. But at Wimbledon I was white. And even after that, my feeling towards people was fear.
I went to train at the Clubhouse in Cincinnati and I thought: how do they look at me? What do they really think of me? I understood who my real friends are. I have grown so much this year, both mentally and physically” he then reiterated, underlining: “The results you see now are not sudden. They are the fruit of the hard work we have done in the last two years. I am the son of a chef and I know that you don’t start cooking a good dish in a few minutes. You study, you understand, you try and try again, then the final dish will be good,” he analyzed.
Tennis World USA