Jannik Sinner has made it clear that he has his eyes set on the world No 1 ranking, but he acknowledges his immediate goal is to get to No 3 through hard work.
The Italian opened his Grand Slam trophy account in incredible fashion last week as he upset defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-final of the Australian Open before coming back from two sets to love down to beat Daniil Medvedev in the final on Rod Laver Arena.
Victory at Melbourne Park helped Sinner to close the gap to the top three in the ATP Rankings with Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Medvedev the men currently ahead of him in the standings.
Djokovic and Alcaraz are slightly out of sight for now, but Sinner finds himself just 455 adrift of the man he beat in Sunday’s final and during a celebratory press conference in Rome he acknowledged he still has hard work ahead of him.
“To be No 1 in the world? There’s a big difference between being in the top five and being in the top three,” he said.
“It’s the same between being top three and world No 1. You have to take things one step at a time.”
He added: “I’m aware that I still need to improve my physical condition, my strength and my endurance. In terms of tennis, I can do everything a little better, particularly on my serve. There’s still work to be done.”
Asked what his best quality is, Sinner explained that his professionalism has always been key to his success on and off the field before adding that his parents have given him an incredible foundation.
“There are no secrets. It’s no secret that one can reach a good goal if you work well,” he said. “Maybe I work more than others, but I don’t know, I only know what I do. I’m professional and this too is a quality. When I wake up the first thing I think is that I have to train.”
The Italian continued: “My parents gave me this mentality, that if you want something you have to work to earn it. My father still cooks, my parents still work and that’s what I like about them: nothing has changed in their relationship with me. I hope that my father could come to a couple of tournaments, maybe Indian Wells where we could get a house and all be together.”
Sinner had the potential to become a professional skier as he won an Italian championship at the age of eight with many believing he was destined for the very top.
But tennis was always his first love and in the end he “made the right choice”.
“I was really good,” the world No 4 said. “But then I had a couple of so-so seasons when I started competing against older athletes in slalom and giant slalom and when downhill came into the picture I weighed too little to compete.
He added: “So I kept on playing tennis. In skiing, if you make a mistake you´re out; it´s a dangerous sport and you need to get up early in the morning and venture outside in frigid temperatures. Tennis is a bit more accessible. And in the end I think I made the right choice.”
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