Stronger, richer, more famous, but Jannik Sinner always remains the same. And as such he tells his story to L’Equipe in a long interview to reveal some secrets, between exercises with color and the sound of the ball on the racket. But also to remember how unhealthy the celebrity propagated by social media is. All this while confessing that he has become more Italian thanks to southern Italy.
success
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“Success,” explains the Bolzano native, “is nice. Last year after I won the Davis Cup, they displayed banners and chanted chants in my honor in the stands at San Siro. It was crazy, especially for a Rossoneri fan like me. But more than being famous, I hope to inspire young people to pick up a racket, play and ensure a future for Italian tennis.” For Sinner, however, social media is not always positive: “I’m not interested in being famous and I don’t use it much. The important thing is to be loved by family and friends who have known me forever. For the rest, you can do without it. Social media spreads an unhealthy image, which doesn’t reflect reality. I prefer not to publish anything about my private life and only do it for sponsors, always keeping an eye on what they post.”
stile
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Sinner conquered Italy as a different Italian: “I am a bit atypical, less expansive. I come from a place where you go to bed early when maybe the rest of the Italians go to bed later. But I learned the Italian style when I started training in the south. But I don’t change to please someone or because they criticize me, unless it’s my family who points it out to me. People like me for who I am. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter”. In any case, the champion appreciates his fans, starting with the Carota Boys: “I like them, they are six inseparable childhood friends. I’m lucky to have them as fans. I’m happy they’ve become very famous”.
truth
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But the rise to success for Sinner was also a sacrifice: “To go to school in Bolzano I took a two-hour train ride there and two hours back. However, I often studied remotely. But I never complained about it and I met my best friend in the classroom.” A support, like his brother Mark: “I know that he will always tell me the truth”. To distract himself, however, the tennis player never gives up on skiing: “My trainer has nightmares every time, but now I’m more cautious, I no longer go at 110%, but at 70%”. And then there is the passion for go-karts: “I like the adrenaline, racing with friends.”
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secrets
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All preparatory to controlling speed and mental strength: “Indispensable, also to not give information to the opponent, like in poker. I used to be more nervous, then I started to understand how my brain worked and I felt better in the race”. Sinner performs mental work with special exercises that maybe Formula 1 drivers do: “In computer tests, for example, the word green can appear a different color. If it is green, you have to press the true button. Or the false button if the word is another color, as quickly as possible. All with a band on your head that calculates the percentage of the brain used. Over time, the percentage decreases because it goes into automatic. It’s a question of practice, like with muscles. Even if my biceps wouldn’t increase much, they would still become stronger. The same goes for the brain”. And then there are the details, like the choice of rackets: “I focus not on the shot but on the sound of the ball. And in training I try to reproduce the right, clean sound. Even if in the end in a match what matters most is to make the right shot at the right time.”
