The Italian was told by Sinner’s first coach, “Never seen a child hit like him.”
Before the 22-year-old moved to Bordighera to Riccardo Piatti’s academy, his first ever tennis coach, Heribert Mayr, had been able to admire his abilities.
“He was seven years old, his father brought him to Brunico because he was starting to get passionate and wanted to train at a tennis school. He had crazy timing, I’ve never seen a child hit like that. He listened to everything and above all he put into practice what you told him. And, most importantly, he always had a smile on his face. The parents never interfered. When they came, they left Jannik with me and went away. They never stood by and watched,” he explained
Mayr then told how 2015 was the turning point in Sinner’s professional career.
“I brought Jannik to the Challenger in Ortisei. I told him: Let’s go see Seppi, but bring your racket with you. I’m a friend of Massimo Sartori, Andreas’ coach, and I asked him to take a look at this little boy. he did, telling me that he would talk about it with Piatti. It was November. The call came before Christmas. Piatti wanted to see him in Bordighera. That’s where it all started.”
Sinner’s first coach also unbalanced himself on the future young Italian, especially focusing on the Slams.
“He will certainly win a few more Slams, this year too he will have other opportunities. I don’t think so in Paris, not on clay, even if the Olympics are a great motivation. But Wimbledon and the US Open are within his reach,” he explained.
Sinner’s historic victory at the Australian Open brought back his entire history and origins, from his famous transition to tennis after an important stint in skiing in which he showed off well.
Matteo Berrettini, as happened throughout the tournament, took part in the visit. As well as Andrea Vavassori, finalist at the 2024 Australian Open together with Bolelli. Obviously the president of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation Angelo Binaghi and the president of CONI Giovanni Malagò could not be missing.
Sinner, a true Davis Cup hero and symbol of the incredible growth of the Italian men’s tennis movement, spoke on behalf of the team. The winner of the Australian Open won his first Slam in Melbourne by beating Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in the semi-final and final respectively.
“I speak on behalf of the team, it’s an honor to be here. Thanks to the captain we formed a team, bringing the Cup after 47 years. We have to give credit to Berrettini who supported the team, we got out of a difficult situation in Bologna.
In Malaga we played excellent tennis, felt good on the court and were happy. We laughed even when things weren’t going well. The Cup brought us many emotions. We will also try to do well at the Games, we hope it goes well even if the future cannot be controlled. There is a gift for her from the whole team,” he told.
Sinner will play the ATP 500 in Rotterdam
Sinner gave the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella his racket. Now, Jannik will return to the court at the ATP Rotterdam tournament, skipping the ATP 250 event of Marseille.
In fact, there is just over a week left until the official start of the first ATP 500 of the season. In Rotterdam almost everything is ready for 7 days of great tennis. There are several top players who have chosen to stay in Europe after the Australian Open and take part in indoor hard court tournaments, naturally in view of the American tour for the Indian Wells and Miami events.
Leading the seeding will be the Russian Daniil Medvedev, who has chosen to defend the three consecutive titles won last year in Holland, Doha and Dubai. the Russian will meet the Italian Jannik Sinner, who took the Australian Open title from him.
Among the top 10 there will also be Andrey Rublev and Holger Rune, who will complete the picture of the four main seeds, but also Hubert Hurkacz and Alex De Minaur.
Below, in detail, is the complete list of tennis players who will be present at the event in the Netherlands
