Jannik Sinner reveals his biggest and most important quality
Jannik Sinner is in the form of his life as he has beaten all the best players in the world in recent months so what exactly has been the key feature of his rise to the top?
Just over a year ago Sinner was ranked outside the top 10 in the ATP Rankings while he was coming off a 2022 season that saw him win just one title, the Croatia Open in July.
But things clicked in early 2023 as he won the Open Sud De France in February and followed it up with runners-up trophies at the Rotterdam Open and Miami Open.
Later in the year he took it up a notch as he won the Canadian Open, China Open and Vienna Open and also finished runner-up at the ATP Finals – beating the likes of Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev – while he also steered Italy to their first Davis Cup title since 1976.
Yet the best was yet to come as he started 2024 by winning his maiden Grand Slam, the Australian Open, before collecting a second trophy at the Rotterdam Open.
Sinner has risen to a career-high No 3 and is currently on a 17-match winning streak – the longest unbeaten run by an Italian man in top-level tennis – while the world No 2 ranking is also waving at him.
Following his latest win at the Indian Wells Open, the 22-year-old was asked what he believes is his biggest and most important quality.
“I have a lot of respect for all of the players, but I don’t have fear to face them,” he replied.
“I think that’s also a quality, because especially when you play the pressure points and important points, you know, I still like to go for the shots.
“I don’t wait to see what my opponent does most of the time. So if I have to choose one quality, it’s this one.”
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So was he born fearless or is it was something he learned during his career?
“No, I realised it when I skied that I had a fear to go, you know, the downhill [in] races,” he explained.
“When you go very fast and then you jump 20, 30 metres, you know, it’s different. Then I had this fear. And then in my mind in tennis, it’s nothing to be scared about, no?
“It’s only a match at the end of the day. We try our best, and sometimes it goes in a good way in important moments and sometimes not. But in the end, you just lose the match.”
