Jannik Sinner ‘reminds’ former Olympic champion of Roger Federer
Jannik Sinner has been compared to 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer by skiing legend Lindsey Vonn, following the Italian’s maiden Grand Slam triumph.
Sinner became the first Australian Open singles champion from Italy this time last week, after fighting back from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev in the final.
And Vonn, who is a big fan of tennis, revealed that she was not surprised Sinner was victorious in Melbourne, “He’s just a great athlete, very smart and I’m not surprised that he won Australia. I thought he would win before he did, but he’s someone that’s going to be around for a long time.”
Sinner is also no stranger to skiing, having competed growing up, but elected to choose tennis and has come to know Vonn in recent years.
Vonn went onto draw comparisons of Sinner to former No.1 Federer, “He really reminds me of Roger, to be honest. If he’s under pressure, and he’s got to serve, he’s got match point or something, the perspective is that if he misses the point, nothing is going to happen.”
The 2010 Olympic champion continued, “It’s not like in skiing, where if you don’t take the turn right, you crash, and you could potentially hurt yourself very badly. So it’s the kind of fearlessness that he puts everything out there no matter what the situation. And that perspective, I think, is really different from most people, most athletes, and I think he uses that to his advantage.
“In just the few years that I’ve known him, I definitely see his confidence level growing. He’s talked about it publicly, but [he is] just getting stronger physically. He’s a really tall, lanky man and he’s definitely trying to fill that out and get stronger. But he’s just maturing, he’s growing and he’s only going to get better. I’m excited to watch him continue to succeed in his career.”
Let’s F*ing go Jan!!!!! ???????????????????????? @janniksin https://t.co/qvfox5mA2t
— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) January 27, 2024
Sinner has elected to skip defending his title in Marseille next week, but will return for the ATP Tour for the event in Rotterdam beginning 12th February.
Inside the baseline…
It is obviously too early to know whether Jannik Sinner’s career will become anywhere near that of Roger Federer’s, but the Italian’s mentality is definitely something that stands out as a huge positive. This showed hugely in the Australian Open final against Daniil Medvedev, where Sinner had to really dig dip in his first major final to produce an almighty comeback against a very strong opponent.
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