Jannik Sinner: from junior ski champ to a member of tennis’s elite

Sinner, who grew up in Sexten, a wintersports resort in South Tyrol, the German-speaking autonomous region on the Italian-Austrian border, was always tipped as a great player of the future during his fast rise up the ATP rankings. He finished 2019 as the youngest player inside the top 80 since Rafael Nadal in 2003 by winning three events on the lower-tier Challenger Tour and capping his remarkable year by clinching the Next Gen Finals in Milan in November. Little wonder he was voted ATP Newcomer of the Year.

But he has since gone on to create today’s leading tennis rivalry with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. Already rivals from their junior days, in 2024 and 2025, the two shared the eight men’s Grand Slam singles titles 4-4 between them, with Sinner topping the world rankings for more than a year. In 2025 Sinner reached the finals of all four majors, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and coming within one point of winning at Roland-Garros.

Choosing tennis – leaving home

Although Sinner was introduced to tennis by his father, Johann, at the age of seven, he was a champion skier in Italy from the ages of 8 to 12. But being a top skier came with huge physical and mental challenges.

"The sport is quite dangerous. When you ski, you can hurt yourself. You can be very scared. In tennis you know that nothing can happen. That was the decision I made, that I said ‘No’ to skiing and decided to play tennis."

Jannik Sinner

Having opted for tennis at 12, he made a brave decision at 13. He met the veteran Italian coach Riccardo Piatti, who offered him a place at the Piatti Tennis Centre in Bordighera, on Italy’s Ligurian coast. It meant leaving home, but Jannik wanted to give his tennis career every chance, and swapped his family house in the mountains for life in a tennis academy on the Mediterranean coast. “The first week especially was hard, but later it was OK,” he says about that time. “It was more difficult for my parents, I think, because letting your son go, living alone at 13 or 14 years old was not easy for them.” But Piatti, who has guided the likes of Ivan Ljubicic and Maria Sharapova, treated Sinner like one of his own children, making sure the teenager felt at home at his academy without his parents and brother.

The now 1.88 metres (6ft 2in) tall Italian honed his attacking game style, built around a huge serve, big forehand and strong movement, at the Piatti academy.

"He is a good server, a good returner. He’s a player that likes to go and win the point."

Riccardo Piatti

Sinner’s coach at the Piatti Tennis Centre

Sinner’s maturity as a young man impressed many tennis legends. John McEnroe, a seven-time major singles winner, described the still teenage Sinner as “one of the most talented kids I’ve seen in 10 years,” adding, “His potential is to win numerous Grand Slams.” Chris Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam singles winner, likened Sinner’s poise on the tennis court to that of a young Federer and Nadal. “His maturity has really propelled him at this point, and he plays like he belongs on the big stage,” Evert said on American television in 2019. “He doesn’t have any fear. I love the demeanour that he has on the court, aside from his game.”

"What I like about him is that he’s almost got the same speed of shot on forehand and backhand. He’s an exciting guy and super sweet kid, which I always love to see."

Roger Federer

That “super sweet kid” had the social awareness to raise money to fund medical supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic by donating €10 for every photo he received of a pizza resembling himself or any other Italian celebrity.

Justifying the promise

Piatti continued to coach Sinner in his early years on tour, until the end of 2022, when Jannik enlisted the services of the Australian coach, Darren Cahill, an arrangement that lasted for a highly successful three years. The two coaches oversaw a fast rise to the very top that justified all the promise young Jannik had shown.

Sinner won four tour-level titles in 2021, the year he turned 20. In 2022, he had a match point against Alcaraz in the US Open quarter-finals, a tournament Alcaraz went on to win. In 2023, Sinner won four more titles, including his first Masters-1000 event on the hard courts of Toronto. By then he had a title on clay and had reached the Wimbledon semi-finals, testifying to his ability on all surfaces.

In 2024, he became a Grand Slam champion, beating his fellow HEAD ambassador Novak Djokovic en route to the Australian Open title, a final he won from two sets down. By June he was at the top of the rankings and had his first grass title. By September he had his first US Open title, by January 2025 his second Australian crown, and in July he came back from a set down to beat his rival Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.

With his shock of red hair, Jannik Sinner is one of the most recognisable players on the tour. And his rivalry with Alcaraz is the biggest battle in 2020s tennis.

Sinner endorses the HEAD Speed range of racquets.