Why was Lindsey Vonn in Jannik Sinner’s box for the US Open final?
Jannik Sinner had a famous face in his box for the US Open final against Carlos Alcaraz, with skiing legend Lindsey Vonn a prominent figure among his extended entourage.
The skiing legend won an Olympic gold medal in Vancouver in 2010 and also has two Olympic bronze medals in her collection from a ground-breaking career.
She is one of the most recognisable skiers of all-time and a superstar of American sport, so plenty of eyebrows were raised when Vonn was perched just behind Sinner’s team for the US Open final at Flishing Meadows.
There has been plenty of speculation over the identity of Sinner’s girlfriend after he revealed prior to the tournament that he had a new romantic interest.
The world No 1 has been linked with Danish model Laila Hasanovic and there were also rumours in America that he was in a relationship with American model and influencer Brooks Nader.
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Sinner has yet to confirm who his new partner is, as he has a policy to keep his personal life private.
There are no suggestions that he is romantically linked to Vonn, who split from her partner Diego Osorio, co-founder of tequila company Lobos 1707, earlier this year.
The reason why Vonn appeared in Sinner’s box is likely to stem from their time skiing together in 2024.
Sinner was an elite junior skier and needed to decide on whether he would commit his sporting career to the sport that he mastered in his younger days growing up near the Italian Alps.
In the end, he decided to make tennis his sporting career and that has proved to be an inspired decision as he has impressively conquered the sport over the last few years.
Vonn spoke about her time skiing with Sinner last year, in an interview with the ATP.
“I always thought it was really special that he was a former ski racer and that’s obviously where we connected,” Vonn told ATPTour.com.
“He’s a pretty shy guy, but he’s really humble and always super kind. I think he has just a great perspective on the sport and I think to a degree, some of that comes from skiing. We’ve talked about it quite a few times.
“He’s just a great athlete, very smart and I’m not surprised that he won Australia. I thought he would win before he did, but he’s someone that’s going to be around for a long time. And he really reminds me of Roger (Federer), to be honest.
“If he’s under pressure, and he’s got to serve, he’s got match point or something, the perspective is that if he misses the point, nothing is going to happen,” Vonn said. “It’s not like in skiing, where if you don’t take the turn right, you crash, and you could potentially hurt yourself very badly.
“So it’s the kind of fearlessness that he puts everything out there no matter what the situation. And that perspective, I think, is really different from most people, most athletes, and I think he uses that to his advantage.
“In just the few years that I’ve known him, I definitely see his confidence level growing,” added Vonn.
“He’s talked about it publicly, but [he is] just getting stronger physically.
“He’s a really tall, lanky man and he’s definitely trying to fill that out and get stronger. But he’s just maturing, he’s growing and he’s only going to get better. I’m excited to watch him continue to succeed in his career.”
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