Former WTA player Francesca Schiavone is a huge fan of Jannik Sinner‘s approach to tennis, and she called him an example everybody should follow.
Sinner has had an interesting trajectory when it comes to tennis. It’s very similar to a start-stop-start sequence, where he got off to a quick start as a teenager, establishing his talent fairly quickly.
Then, we saw two years of slow progress as he improved as a player but never quite had the typical meteoric rise that we’ve seen from many other players.
Carlos Alcaraz had more of that typical meteoric rise in a short period, but that didn’t happen with Sinner. That rise came earlier this year with an incredible maiden Grand Slam trophy run in Australia and superb play that followed.
It happened this way because Sinner took his time to work on his tennis, even when things didn’t go as well. He learned how to deal with the chaos that would ensue and proved himself much better at managing it than some other players who had a meteoric rise.
That’s just a wonderful example, according to former player Schiavone, who mentioned Sinner when talking about the state of Italian tennis to Sky Sports during the 2024 Italian Open.
“After Adriano Panatta there was silence for many years, then there was me, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani. Now there are these young players who are giving us a splendid show. Jannik in particular has a truly commendable approach to tennis.”
The former Italian player echoed the words of others, who said that the Italian tennis has been growing thanks to the Italian.
“We should all take an example from him in how he approaches matches. Every game has a story about him. Whether he plays in Paris, Rome, New York, is always an expression of what you have trained and who you are. Rome is continually growing, also thanks to Sinner.”