Rick Macci is a coach who knows about great champions. In his legendary career he trained Andy Roddick, Jennifer Capriati, Maria Sharapova and, above all, the sisters Venus and Serena Williams. The American coach has now praised Jannik Sinner, calling him the player who changed tennis.
2024 has given the young Italian many joys in terms of results, while he has experienced really complicated moments related to the Clostebol doping issue. After WADA appealed to CAS against the acquittal of the ATP No.1 by ITIA, Jannik’s fate will be decided after mid-February 2025: it will be a long wait for him and his staff, who in the meantime have received the compliments of a great coach like Macci.
“Sinner has changed tennis with the firepower of his shots and the changes he has made to his forehand. He has a tendency to overdo the inversion of the racket face and now his momentum and thrust when swinging are even more explosive, and he hits the ball so early that he gets the most out of what can be done,” wrote Macci in a post X.
The real goal that Sinner will try to achieve in early 2025 is the defense of his title at the Australian Open. Last year he thrilled everyone by winning the first Slam of his career at the end of a final in which he completed an incredible comeback against Daniil Medvedev.
Jannik Sinner, Miami Masters 2024© Stream screenshot
It should be emphasized that 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 Sinner’s career. After his first top 10 finish, the Italian was able to transform himself and further improve from a tactical and physical point of view by relying on Vagnozzi. The path taken has actually borne fruit in this last year and a half, after just as much time spent working and learning from defeats. Now the Italian and his team are enjoying their first triumphs at Slam level and the number one in the world, with the goal of absolutely not wanting to stop.
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.
“Tactics. It’s important because it can allow you to fix a match that isn’t going well. 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,” Jannik said.
Tennis World USA