Jannik Sinner has come of age as a tennis player, but the start of his sporting journey was in the mountains, where he became an ace skier in his youth.
Before the age of 13, Sinner was talked about as a wonderful skiing prospect who specialized in giant slalom, which entails racing between sets of poles placed apart from each other. He had lived in the northern part of the Italian Dolomites, which is famous for producing skiers.
But Sinner went against the norm and eventually chose tennis over skiing in his early teenage years. He became a full professional in 2018. Now 22 and ranked a career-high World No. 4 on the ATP Tour, Sinner owes a great deal of his agility, balance, and mental strength to his time skiing.
“It brings me a little bit of balance, maybe, or when you slide because of the balance. But I think the biggest thing was mentally. Mentally, in skiing, especially when you do downhill – I did couple of races downhill.”
Sinner underpinned his specialty in slalom skiing but explained the risks involved, especially how one single miscalculation could result in an injury. It is for this reason that the newly-crowned Australian Open champion is unlikely to take up the sport again.
“I would never do it again because I’m scared. I was a specialist in slalom and giant slalom but downhill, when you know that if you make a mistake that you can hurt yourself – it’s tough.”
Sinner’s assessment of skiing and tennis paints a picture of the disparity involved in the two sports. The 22-year-old believes nothing truly unpleasant is going to happen playing the racket sport, which is why his risk appetite on the court is high.
“In tennis, nothing can really happen. Also when you have break points sometimes, I like to go for it. Because you cannot hurt yourself.”
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