The special story of Jannik Sinner, the Italian revelation who astonishes the tennis world

At only 22 years old, on his third attempt Jannik Sinner won the Miami Masters 1000 by beating by partials of 6-3 and 6-1 Grigor Dimitrov . Although a victory was expected, what was surprising was how overwhelming it was, as the 32-year-old Bulgarian enjoys a second wind in his career by entering the top ten for the first time since 2018.

The Italian had already been beaten by Hubert Hurkacz (6-7 and 4-6) in 2021 and Daniil Medvedev (5-7 and 3-6) in 2023, whom he had categorically beaten in the semi-final of the edition this year (6-1). and 6-2).

With his victory in the final, the Italian has won 41 of his last 44 matches played. only with defeats against Ben Shelton in Shanghai, Novak Djokovic in the ATP final and Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells (his only fall this season). His good performances allowed him to win the Davis Cup, Beijing, Vienna, the Australian Open and Rotterdam. But not only that, the one who was born in San Candido, on the border with Austria, is already starting to make a place for himself in the history of his country. He is the first Italian to reach second place in the world rankings, replacing Carlos Alcaraz, the great Spanish figure. He is getting closer to Novak Djokovic, the world number one.

The keys to his success seem to come from his calm personality, his good eating habits and his almost absence of media exposure. “I have everything, I lack nothing. I never went to a club, I don’t like staying up late. “I prefer to play cards with friends.” he said some time ago in an interview with Vanity Fair.

Son of Hanspeter and Siglinde Sinner, he made his debut in a sport radically different from tennis. During his childhood, he was one of the most promising figures in skiing in his country. The reason? He grew up in Val Fiscalina in northern Italy, a region known for its snow-covered valleys. But what had the most influence was that his father and mother worked in an inn specializing in this activity (chef and waitress respectively).

This led him to devote himself to mountain sports from the age of three, with a meteoric rise. Between the ages of eight and 12, Sinner was already one of the best boot skiers in the country, with a national championship in giant slalom and a second-place finish four runs later.

The truth is that despite all this, he always had a tennis racket in his hands, mainly motivated by a whim of his father. He was once asked why he decided to devote himself to the sport of green ball despite the bright future he promised in skiing. “I’m a very normal boy who grew up in the mountains and loves winter sports, but it was too risky for me, that’s why I opted for tennis” he explained.

In 2013, he met Massimo Sartori, who was the coach of Andrea Seppi (former 18th in the ATP) and who motivated him to change sports when he witnessed his first weapons. “That day, I would have liked him to play against Seppi, who couldn’t play because he had back pain. I played with him. After an hour, I was exhausted. » Sartori recalled this some time ago.

Then he found himself in Bordighera, more precisely at the Riccardo Piatti academy, recognized for having worked with Novak Djokovic, Ivan Ljubicic, Richard Gasquet and Milos Raonic. The truth is that it was not easy at all, since the trip was made alone and he lived for a time with Luka Cvjetkovic, one of his coaches. Of course, he always thanked his parents for letting him make his own decisions.

Having started tennis late, his time as an ITF junior was quite short. Between 2016 and 2018, he only played 26 tournaments and never participated in a Junior Grand Slam. Although he managed to be champion twice (Doha and El Prat).

At just 17 years old, he made his debut in 2018 with a Como Challenger defeat against Slovakian Andrej Martin. His first victory came a few months later against his compatriot Luca Giacomini, when he was barely in the world top 870.

However, the start of its real explosion would come the following year. He won the tournaments in Bergamo, Trento, Santa Margherita di Pula, Lexington and Ortisei. He made his debut on the Budapest ATP Tour after overcoming the quality and competed in the Masters 1000 and Grand Slam for the first time. As if that wasn’t enough, That same season, he won the 2019 ATP Next Generation Finals in Milan.

From then on, they are nothing more than successes. In 2020, he reached the quarter-finals of Roland Garros and He won his first ATP title at the Sofia Open. In 2021, he was the youngest ATP 500 champion in Washington and He enters the top ten for the first time, becoming the first person born in the 2000s to achieve this.

In 2023, he reached his first semi-final at Wimbledon and won his first Masters 1000 in Canada, reach the final of the ATP Finals and being the Italian leader of the Davis Cup title after 47 years of waiting.

This year he won the Australian Open, beating none other than Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals and coming back in an epic final against Daniil Medvedev, thus becoming the first Italian to win the trophy and the second player, after Rafael Nadal, to win the final after losing the first two sets. In Miami, he confirmed his power which places him as the best tennis player of 2024 and very close to the number one that Novak Djokovic still holds.