By I MEET JANNIK SINNER at a hotel in Monte Carlo. The day is gloomy, windy. He shows up in tennis kit, a bit intimidated, perhaps, but with a ready wit. I tell him he seems taller than the last time we met. âOr maybe you, as you got older, got smaller,â he says.
On his wrist he has his Rolex GMT-Master II, with a black-and-brown bezel. He takes it off so I can see the inscription on the back, celebrating his first Grand Slam victory, at the Australian Open in January of this year, beating Daniil Medvedev in the final. âThat is how the most incredible year of my life began,â he says. Sinner is 23 years old. Since June 10, he has been the world No. 1 in the ATP rankings: the first Italian ever to take the position. He is also the first Italian to win two Grand Slams in the same season, having also won the US Open in September.
He is still young, but itâs been a long climb to the top. He grew up in Sesto Pusteria, a village on the border between Italy and Austria. At home, his mother, Siglinde, and father, Hanspeter, speak German. When Sinner left his family at the age of 14 to go to a tennis academy in Bordighera, near the French border â more than 700 kilometres from his home â he spoke almost no Italian.
Now, he is a sensation in Italy â where tennis-school enrolments are skyrocketing â and beyond. His distinctive red hair and rangy frame; his focus on mental health rather than winning at all costs; and his fans, the âcarrot boysâ, frequently sighted courtside, all combine to make Sinner the opposite of a ball-shooting robot. Itâs not difficult to see why Rolex wanted him as an ambassador. âThatâs a great source of pride,â he says. âItâs important for me to work with elegant people who uphold a high standard of behaviour.â
Meanwhile, the results speak for themselves. In addition to the Australian Open and the US Open, Sinner has this year also triumphed in Rotterdam, Miami, Halle and Cincinnati, earned about $18 million in prizes.
And yet, this has also been a year of huge disappointments. In May, a hip injury forced Sinner to retire from the Madrid Open. He missed the tournament in Rome.
He lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals at Roland Garros and to Medvedev in the quarters at Wimbledon. He missed the Paris Olympics due to tonsillitis. But most of all, he has had to deal with the suspicion of doping. On March 10, at Indian Wells in California, and again on March 18, he tested positive for less than a billionth of a gram of the banned anabolic steroid Clostebol.
Sinner was suspended from tennis, initially for two days â April 4-5 â before his suspension was overturned on appeal. Then he was suspended again, from April 17-20. His defence was straightforward: the Clostebol, his team discovered, had been contained in an over-the-counter spray that Sinnerâs physiotherapist, Giacomo Nardi, had used to treat a cut on his own finger. When Nardi massaged Sinner, traces of the banned substance were inadvertently and unknowingly transferred to him. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted this explanation and cleared Sinner of any wrongdoing.
âIt was a tough time,â he tells me. âI couldnât talk to anyone about it. I couldnât vent or get help. All the people who knew me and watched me play understood that there was something wrong with me. I [had] sleepless nights, because even if you are certain 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 afterwards, my feeling with people was fearful. I went into training at the Cincinnati clubhouse and thought, How are they looking at me? What do they really think of me? I realised who my real friends are.â
It seemed the affair was closed. But in September, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced it was appealing Sinnerâs case, asking for a disqualification request on the grounds of fault or negligence. This again throws Sinner into uncertainty, for between three and six months. Yet the spirit is firm, and the game is unaffected. In October, he reached the final of the China Open in Beijing.
âI have grown so much this year, both mentally and physically,â he says.
ESQUIRE: What do you want to say?
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Jannik Sinner: The results you see now are not sudden. They are the fruits of the hard work we have done over the past two years. I am the son of a chef, and I know that you donât start cooking a good dish in a few minutes. You study, understand, try and try again, then the final dish will be good.
Esquire: What did you learn on the court?
JS: Tactics. It is important because it can allow you to adjust a game that is not going well. When [former Italian tennis pro] Simone Vagnozzi came to my team, he gave me seven to eight pieces of information per game. I honestly didnât understand anything. He told me: âEvery now and then you make a sliceâ. But I didnât know how to do it, so we made a lot of changes. Itâs a shot I donât do technically correct, because I hold the racket with two hands. Still, I feel more confident with it. Simone is good because we talk a lot and he doesnât 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.
âThe results you see now are not sudden. They are the FRUITS of the HARD WORK we have doneâ
Esquire: How do you think you can improve?
JS: In the US Open final, I didnât serve well. That can happen. But that is a shot for which there is great room for growth. Iâm convinced that, no matter how much you practise, you always have to deal with a bad day. But itâs important to be able to vary your shots, to feel more confident when going to the net, to work on your volley, to have a different feel for the ball.
Esquire: Can you describe your style to someone who knows nothing about tennis?
JS: Itâs a mix between solid and aggressive. I struggle more defensively. In fact, I try not to go into defence. My tennis is versatile, but, for example, I still donât know how to play the net game well. A player who has made me grow a lot is Medvedev. I had never done serve and volley, and he forced me to practise that to try to beat him. Against some players, I have to do more of a long backhand. In tennis, you learn from your relationship with your opponent. The real question for the player is: how do I get into the opponentâs head? If you guess the answer, things in the match change.
Esquire: Amid all this chaos, how do you maintain your composure?
JS: Accepting myself. I have matured; I understand myself more. It may sound silly, but getting to know yourself is fundamental. I worked on it a lot with [sports psychologist] Riccardo Ceccarelli. Sometimes, I lost games because I spent so much energy â the cramps, the discomfort started. But when I started to admit I was wrong, I made small steps forward. In the game, itâs easier for me â I forget the mistake easily. In training, on the other hand, I quickly look for improvement. That is wrong.
âLosing often to NOVAK DJOKOVIC taught me a lot. Itâs good for you. It WAKES you upâ
Esquire: Does having a winning mentality change you as a person?
JS: No. We always talk about results. For me, they are the consequence of what you express on the court. When you are at a high level, if the body holds up, you donât have to question yourself because the results will come. My family understands me, my team understands me, maybe even better than my parents. I find my peace of mind with them. We live in hotels, planes; we travel all the time. They allow me to be the man I am, and understand what I need.
Esquire: For example . . .
JS: Simple things, such as indulging some of my passions. I love driving a car. It makes me feel great. Alone, isolated, I put the music on, then every now and then I switch off and hear the engine and I get charged up that way.
Esquire: Your 2024 includes Anna Kalinskaya, your fellow tennis player and partner. What has she added to your life?
JS: I donât think anything has changed. Having a girlfriend is something that either makes you feel good or makes you feel bad. I want it to be something that feels very natural, which comes into my life normally. I canât afford to change as a player or as a person. That hasnât happened, thatâs why it works.
Esquire: Does nothing affect you?
JS: When you have a personal problem, itâs not easy to play. Knowing that my Aunt Margith, who did so much for me as a child, was dying, made me suffer and certainly affected me. [Sinnerâs Aunt Margith died in September.]
Esquire: Do you ever reflect on the fact that you are the most successful Italian tennis player ever?
JS: You wonât believe it, but it has never been a goal of mine to be the best in anything. For me, I place more value on what kind of person I am; what kind of people I surround myself with; what degree of trust I can have in them. I donât believe that if you win, then you are good, and if you lose, then you are not good at all. Each of us has our own talents. The luck lies in finding a way to express them.
Esquire: Yes, but being the champion changes things, doesnât it?
JS: You face a lot more pressure. But I really believe that there is no money that can replace being healthy and living your life surrounded by people you love.
Esquire: The great football player Alessandro Del Piero once told me: âLosing makes me sickâ.
JS: I am more of the belief that you are either winning or learning. For me, losing often to Novak Djokovic taught me a lot. Itâs good for you; it wakes you up. In football, you might play against Ronaldo and realise you have to prepare better next time. But when is the next time? In tennis, we have more opportunities to make up for it.
Esquire: Italians love you, but they complain because you havenât won a home tournament. Everyone is anticipating the ATP Finals in Turin in November.
JS: Itâs true: Iâve never won in Italy. It hurt me not to play Rome. Itâs normal to question athletes you admire. Itâs a way of cheering. For us, it must be a stimulus. If no one talked about me, it would mean Iâm not interesting. [Editorâs note: On November 17, Sinner duly won his first tournament in Italy, beating Taylor Fitz in the final of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.]
Esquire: What did you get wrong this year?
JS: Tennis is important, but I didnât spend enough time with the people I love. I have to find time for that, because some things pass and never come back.
Top image: All clothes by Gucci. Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II in Oystersteel and Everose gold with black dial and Oyster bracelet.
Words: Giovanni Audiffredi
Photography: Philip Gay
Styling: Nik Piras
Grooming: Gianluca Grechi using Depot â The Male Tools & Co
Stylist assistant: Marco Visconti
Lighting assistants: Carlo Carbonetti and Leonardo Galeotti
Production: Sabrina Bearzotti.
This story appears in the Summer of Tennis issue of Esquire Australia, on sale December 9. Find out where to buy the issue here.
