“I would like all children to have my freedom”
His family, living on the border between Italy and Austria, allowed him to practice tennis away from home, despite his affinity for snow.
We are at an altitude of 1540 meters, and there is snow, snow, half a meter of snow outside. In the Sesto Dolomites, between Italy and Austria, a stone’s throw from the famous Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the refuge of Rifugio Fondovalle, surprises with its good cuisine and, above all, its decor. Despite the surroundings, there are no photographs of climbers, skiers or hockey players on the walls: there are photographs of a tennis player. In a short-sleeved shirt and a racket, on the cement or on the grass, everything is very far away, very strange. But there is an explanation for this. Owner and chef of the establishment Hanspeter Sinner and the administrator and person in charge of the canteen Sieglinda Sinnerfather and mother Jannik Sinneras this Sunday he became the winner of the Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open.
The simplicity and harshness of life in the orphanage explains the character of the leader of the new generation of tennis along with Carlos Alcaraz. There is nothing of the Italian archetype about him: he is not expressive or gesticulating, quite the opposite. In fact, at the trophy presentation ceremony at Rod Laver Arena, you couldn’t tell whether he was too excited or too little. After returning to Daniil Medvedev Losing in straight sets and winning with scores of 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-3 was very quiet.
“I wish all children had my parents because they always allowed me to choose, even when I was very little. I played other sports and they never put pressure on me. I hope that freedom is a reality for all children,” he said in his only sincere message, besides thanking the team and sponsors. Sinner’s relationship with tennis was very free indeed.
Emancipation at 13
Until the age of 12, his main sport was skiing, he became the Italian champion in giant slalom among children under 8 years old and took second place among children under 12 years old, and he only picked up a racket in the summer, waiting for the snow to fall. Today, when asked for a reference, he points to Roger Federer, but in fact his childhood idol was skier Bode Miller, and it took him a while to follow the ATP circuit. “Until I was 12 or 13 years old, I saw very few games, to be honest. Some kind of ending Andreas Seppi because he comes from the same region of Italy as me and a little more,” he recently admitted, who later devoted himself to tennis like no other. “I chose tennis because I enjoy playing. Skiing is a single run, if you make a mistake it’s all over. In tennis, you can fail and win,” he recalled. At the age of 13, with the help of his parents, Sinner came down from the mountains, crossed the country from east to west and settled in the Piatti tennis center in Bordighera, on the Italian Riviera, near Monaco and France .
Where they also studied Novak Djokovic or Richard Gasquet, a linear progression began that reached its zenith this Sunday. In 2019, his first year as a professional, he won the Next Gen title and reached the top 100, in 2020 he won his first ATP title, in 2021 he reached the top 10, and at the end of 2023 he was no longer possible stop. By changing his mentality more consistently, he won the Canadian Masters 1000 and has barely lost since. He even gave Italy the Davis Cup, a miracle.
His relationship with Alcaraz
At the age of 22, with his victory at the Australian Open, he showed that he was ready to host larger tournaments. In the demise of the best generation of tennis players, the Big Three, Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, Sinner emerges as a replacement alongside Alcaraz. “I’m happy for you, you deserve this more than anyone else,” the Spaniard wrote on X yesterday as part of the friendship they both have shared for a long time.
When Sinner was 17 years old and Alcaraz was 15, they met each other in Villena in a Ferrero Challenger and, after the younger one’s unexpected victory, they began a relationship. As professionals they have faced each other seven times with a score of 4-3 in favor of the Italian, but there will be more, much more: the future is eternal. Alcaraz had reached the summit earlier, and his generational rival, Sinner, the orphanage boy, the teenage skier, the quiet Grand Slam champion, had been by his side since that Sunday.