SINNER JOINS THE RANKS OF THE GREATS WITH FIRST GRAND SLAM TITLE IN MELBOURNE
Jannik Sinner has carved his name on the Grand Slam roll of honour!
Long tipped for the biggest prizes, the 22-year-old Italian finally came good by beating Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open to claim his first major title.
A member of the group of young players expected to take over from the golden generation of the past 15 years led by HEAD’s tennis ambassador Novak Djokovic, Sinner has shown a remarkable spurt in form in the past few months, which has lifted him from being a great hope to a Grand Slam champion.
Sinner had a tough run-in at the Australian Open, having to beat two HEAD top-tenners – Andrey Rublev and Djokovic – to claim his first major title. It marks the culmination of a long and patient process, which the Italian acknowledged in Melbourne.
“Patience can be your biggest enemy in one way,” he said after his highly impressive semi-final victory over Djokovic, his first win over the world number one in a best-of-five sets match. “But if you’re not that patient, you rush, and you maybe forget some steps which are important in becoming a better player and improving physically.
“But at some point, I felt like I was at the level we are seeing now. It’s a whole year of work, and the process has been to make me the best version of what I am right now. But I still know I can improve many things, so my journey is not finished yet.”
Sinner, who comes from San Candido in the German-speaking area of northern Italy and spoke German at home during his childhood, was a proficient skier from the ages of 8 to 12 (skiing with HEAD skis). Having chosen to specialise in tennis, he won the ATP NextGen title in 2019, marking him out as a player to watch.
Early in 2023, he began working with the experienced and highly respected Australian coach Darren Cahill. By July, Sinner had reached his first Grand Slam semi-final where it took Djokovic to stop him at Wimbledon, and then at the end of the year he steered Italy to the Davis Cup title with a second win over Djokovic in three matches. Then came his first best-of-five win over Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals, followed by his five-sets victory over Medvedev on Sunday.
Ottmar Barbian, executive vice-president of HEAD’s racquet sports division, said, “We congratulate Jannik on his outstanding and well deserved success. We recognised his quality as an athlete – both a skier and a tennis player – when he was very young, and we feel we have been on the journey with him. As he grew up just a couple of hundred kilometres from HEAD’s headquarters in western Austria, we feel this is very much a ‘home’ success.”
Sinner endorses racquets from HEAD’s Speed range, the same family of racquets endorsed by Djokovic. HEAD had an outstanding Australian Open, with Djokovic, Sinner, Andrey Rublev, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, and Nuno Borges all reaching the round of the last 16, and Coco Gauff reaching the women’s semi-finals.
