2024-01-28 06:20:12
No Grand Slam tournament is on his record and no Italian has ever won the Australian Open. Sunday January 28, in Melbourne, Jannik Sinner will try, at 22, to achieve a double first against the Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Australian event.
► A former skier from the mountains
Jannik Sinner was born in 2001 in San Candido, a small town in the Dolomites located in Alto Adige, also called South Tyrol. This Alpine province of northern Italy was Austrian until 1919 and its inhabitants are German-speaking, like the Sinner family.
Before shining with his racket in hand, this red-haired mountain boy was a very good skier in the youth categories, winning a national title among the juniors. He left the slopes for the courts in 2013, joining a tennis academy in Bordighera on the Italian Riviera.
► A star of the new generation
Jannik Sinner won the Next Gen tournament in 2019, created by the ATP in 2017 to highlight the new generation of tennis. The event brings together the eight best players under the age of 22.
Then 93rd in the world, the young Italian beat the Australian Alex De Minaur in the final. He succeeded the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas on the list and preceded the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
► A first burst of brilliance at Roland-Garros
Jannik Sinner began to really make a name for himself at the international level when he reached the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros in 2020 for his first participation in the Paris tournament on clay.
The newcomer notably eliminated the Belgian David Goffin, 13th in the world, then the German Alexander Zverev, 6th in the world, before giving in to the master of the place, the Spaniard Rafael Nadal. That same year, he won his first ATP tournament at the end of the season in Sofia.
► Confirmation on the courts in 2023
Currently 4th player in the world, his best ranking so far, Jannik Sinner has had a particularly successful year in 2023. He reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, won his first Masters 1000 in Toronto, the tournament category just above the Grand Slam, participated in the Italian success in the Davis Cup and reached the final of the Masters, which brings together the best players of the season.
Incidentally, Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djokovic twice consecutively, in the Davis Cup and in the group stage of the Masters, a performance that he repeated this year at the Australian Open, where the Serbian had never lost in the semi-final.
► A symbol of Italian renewal
Jannik Sinner’s arrival at the top is combined with the revival of transalpine tennis for men, illustrated by Italy’s victory in the Davis Cup final in 2023, the first since 1976.
Sixth player in the world in 2022, before getting injured and falling in the rankings, Matteo Barretini, for his part, was a semi-finalist at the US Open in 2019 and a finalist at Wimbledon in 2021.
The last Italian to have triumphed in a Grand Slam remains Adriano Panatta, crowned at Roland-Garros in 1976. Among women, Francesca Schiavone won Roland-Garros in 2010 and her compatriot Flavia Pennetta won the US Open in 2015.
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