We've had a worse setting for an interview and the 24-year-old was rather warm, quite talkative even, far from the clinical coldness he exudes on the court. "I have this image of a player who has no emotions, but that's because I'm very focused on what I have to do." That doesn't mean it isn't "the storm" in his head sometimes, no one is infallible. "Only, I try not to show it to my opponents."

"I don’t find the term [robot] derogatory. That's how I work. I always try to be as precise as possible, to play the right move at the right time, and that requires being in very good physical and mental shape. This is how and why I train. To be as well armed as possible in the important moments of a match."

"[My parents] are very simple people, who have always worked very hard. When I was little, I only saw my parents in the evening, and very early in the morning, because they were at restaurants all day. When I came home from school, I went to my grandparents' house to eat, and then I quickly had to change to go to training-football, skiing or tennis. There were a lot of things I had to fend for myself, and I really believe it made me grow."

"No matter what happened at the restaurant, how difficult it was, they always had a smile when they came home. It was impossible to guess whether they had a good day or a bad day, and that's the mindset I'm trying to have today. We have good days and bad days in tennis, that’s how it is. But, when I get off the court, I become a normal person again, and I try to be happy with what I have. Live in the present moment, without looking too far behind or ahead, while doing my best: that's what I learned from my parents."

Sinner admits to feeling this pressure, but he takes his role as a locomotive very seriously, with the ambition to "make tennis grow as much as possible in Italy and above all, set a good example for young people. Always try to improve, believe in yourself when you are put down, get up when you fall, that’s the most important thing for me."

When it is pointed out to him that he is already compared to the greatest athletes his country has worn, Valentino Rossi, Alberto Tomba or Marco Pantani, he replies that he is obviously "happy" to be cited among these "legends", but that it is "only at the top for two or three years" and he will need it "ten more" to pretend to join their circle."

"If I chose Monaco, it's for the calm I find there: here, I can go to restaurants or do my shopping without anyone paying attention to me, and that's exactly what I need. I must also say that the facilities - tennis courts, gyms - are perfect. Of course I miss my family. My grandparents are getting older and I wish I could visit them more often. But if I had stayed training at home, I would not have been in the optimal conditions to become the best player possible."

"It comes at a price to be one of the best players in the world. People recognize you, that's how it is. But I try to experience this as normally as possible. I neither want nor need to tell it to myself, whether off the court or anywhere else. I am happy with what I have, happy above all to be in good health. The life I have chosen requires sacrifices but it is also a question of balance: I will only be 24 once and I try to enjoy it, to have good times off the court. And I think I find this balance quite good. I have a great group of friends, the same ones forever, and people by my side who take care of me."

Sometimes, when he needs to decompress, Sinner plays golf. "We tend to spend a lot of time on social media. Putting my phone down for three or four hours and being in nature is something that makes me feel good." But what relaxes him most is being alone behind the wheel in his car, "where I feel like I’m in my bubble, where no one can touch me".

"Sometimes when I finish my workout, I take my car and drive for twenty, thirty minutes, with a little music. It's one of the things I really enjoy doing." Like a lot of young people his age, the Italian is also into video games, notably EA Sports FC and Fortnite.

"I have to finish His & Hers, on Netflix, I have one episode left. I like thrillers too. But if I'm alone somewhere in the evening, I'm more of a PlayStation person." A little reading? "I have my periods, but I like reading the press, because I find it important to know what's happening in the world. When I get the chance, I happily buy La Gazzetta dello Sport. I skip the tennis pages, because I already know what's going on (he smiles), but I read football. It is a very important sport in Italy."

It's partly because he loves following his favorite drivers on YouTube so much that he explains he had the idea start your own channel at the beginning of last year. "The goal is to show people who I really am. What my life is like when I'm not playing tennis. As I said, I'm very serious on the court, because I'm very focused. But outside, I can be funny. In any case, I like to mess around. I have a great team behind me that makes me forget that I'm being filmed. This is how we create authentic moments, and I want to show even more of this behind the scenes in the future."

[In response to how the clostebol case changed him.] "I wouldn’t say it necessarily changed me. But it made me realize a thing or two. It's an episode that was hard to live with, because I had to pay the price for a mistake that wasn't mine. And then one morning, I got up with the idea of turning it all into something positive. I took advantage of my family, first. And then I got back to work, notably spending a lot of time in the gym. When I returned to the sport in Rome (in May 2025), I was happy. Relieved. I just wanted to enjoy the moment. And that's what I did. I played great tennis after that. What was hard, in particular, were the months leading up to my suspension. Because I couldn't tell anyone about it. I looked very sad on the court, and I did: I didn't feel liberated. But I believe in the fact that nothing happens by chance. And I am convinced that all this has made me a stronger person. I understood who my real friends were, and that helped me, too."

At the start of our interview, a good half hour earlier, we had spoken with the Italian about his first great love for skiing, about this title of giant slalom champion in juniors and about these Sundays at his grandfather's house following Lindsey Vonn's races, their ritual for both of them. So Sinner was asked what he learned from her. Without revealing much, he had praised her "mental approach", this experience that cannot be bought, the importance of "make mistakes to move forward too. The fall was a very trying moment, for her friends, her team, her family, everyone. And for Lindsey too, obviously. But she always tries to see the positive side of things, even in the darkest moments of her career and her life in general. And that’s something that inspires me a lot."

"It would be a lie to say that it was easy to turn the page [from Roland Garros]. I always try to move on quickly, even when I win. And that's how I managed to triumph at Wimbledon right after. But I learned great lessons from this defeat in Paris."