Sinner blurted out a little more after winning his first Slam: with these words, he hit the nail on the head.
He doesn’t like it just because he is objectively great at playing tennis. Or because he is capable of pecking the right angles with pinpoint accuracy. Surgical, dare we say. Jannik Sinner blows everyone’s mind because, even before he is a champion, he is a clean-cut guy. Simple, easygoing, principled.
Work ethic, even the walls know by now, is part of the legacy that mother Siglinde and father Hanspeter handed down to him the moment he, still very young, left Alta Pusteria to move to Bordighera. He was still a shy and awkward teenager, but he knew he wanted to break through in the tennis world and, therefore, gave up everything to pursue his dream. He gave up the carefreeness, the moments he still could have shared with his family among those mountains that gave him birth. And it is beautiful that today he can reap around the world the fruits of all those sacrifices never made lightly.
Just as it is beautiful, beautiful, that he always has a thought for his parents. He had it even in the most beautiful moment of his career, the one when he lifted his first Slam cup to the sky. He dedicated it to them, to his mom and dad, two parents who he said were exemplary and would give him the best gift of all: that is, to leave him free to spread his wings and become whoever he wanted.
Sinner, rogue nostalgia: he admitted it
To say it was easy, however, would be a lie. It would be to mystify reality and not do justice to the sacrifices that Jannik, precisely, made in order to join the Olympus of the greatest.
How complicated the new king of Melbourne actually was, he revealed after his victory to Corriere della Sera. When asked why he felt it was so important to mention them during the award ceremony, he formulated an answer that says a lot about how mature he is, regardless of his age.
“I left home when I was 13, forced to grow up fast: I taught myself how to do laundry, how to cook, how to shop for groceries. For a parent to let go of a child so early is not easy. We missed many things that I am trying to catch up with my dad, who sometimes accompanies me to tournaments. But adolescence is lost.” One regret, just one, amid a sea of satisfaction and happiness.
