Jannik Sinner – A Change of Guard
Jannik Sinner – A Change of Guard
Italy has just become an even more incredible country. It’s now known to the world as the homeland of Jannik Sinner.
A humble, hardworking new athlete is dominating certain courts, and he’s cheered on by a singing group of gentlemen wearing carrot costumes (his own fan group, called the Carota Boys). Sinner is the first Italian Grand Slam champion since Adriano Panatta in 1976, and he earned the title by winning the 2024 Australian Open. He’s also the first Italian to win the Australian Open and youngest player to win it since the 20-year-old all-time champion Novak Djokovic who won his maiden slam in 2008.
Sinner’s rise to the tennis stardom wasn’t quite straightforward and easy. He was born in Innichen, Italy, in 2001, and grew up in the town of Sexten, where his 
parents Hanspeter and Singlinde Sinner worked at a ski lodge. He started skiing and playing soccer and tennis at the age of three.
Though he was active in three sports, it was as a skier that his first wins racked up. As one of Italy’s top junior skiers, Sinner won the junior national championship in giant slalom as an eight-year-old and earned the runner-up at age 12. Still, he decided to give up skiing and soccer for tennis. The benefits of competing directly against an opponent and greater margin of error over the course of the match appealed to him, and that decision making and love of tennis did the rest of the magic.
“I wish everyone could have my parents because they always let me choose whatever I wanted to […] I (played) some other sports and they never put pressure on me. I wish this freedom is possible for everyone,” said Sinner after winning the Australian Open.
Sinner spent very little time on the junior tour, with a career-high junior ranking of No. 133. In late 2018, he began his professional career on the ITF circuit and won his first ATP Challenger title at the age of 17 – as the youngest Italian to achieve that honor. Since then, his growth in the ATP tour has been steady and linear, with 10 ATP tour titles and a Masters 1000 title. In November of 2023, Sinner led Italy to its second ever Davis Cup title defeating the Djokovic’s Serbia in the semifinal and Australia in the final. In the Australian Open semifinal, Sinner pulled a win from the defending and 10-time champion Djokovic to punch his first ever major championship.
It was like witnessing the changing of the guard. With poise and calm, he pulled off a triumphant comeback from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev of Russia for his maiden Grand Slam.
It’s truly heartening to have a new generation of tennis talent finding their place in the big leagues. With his Carota Boys cheering him on, there’s no telling where Sinner might take his remarkable talent. 🎾
