Untitled

How did he meet Sinner?

"His manager is my best man, and Alex Vittur and I have known each other all our lives. Jannik came to Cecchinato's box in Monte Carlo, and then there was the final in which he played against Travaglia, who I was following at the time, in Melbourne. When Sinner decided to separate from Piatti, Vittur called me to coach him. It was 2022. They put me on trial, but apparently it worked."

What was your impression of Sinner?

"You could immediately tell he had a rare talent but also a great desire to do well. He was already focused, focused on what he was doing. He was number ten in the world at twenty. He was already a phenomenon, but you could tell he was ready to go further. And we got there."

What did you and Cahill think you could add?

"Flexibility. He was, and still is, a fairly rigid person. On the court, he could play excellent points, but he lacked the tactical edge, the awareness of his opponents' characteristics and therefore the flexibility with which to face them. Going from tenth to first in the rankings is extremely difficult, like climbing the highest peak. And he was very good at improving himself so much, with the intelligence and willingness to hone a natural and overwhelming talent."

Do you remember your first conversation?

"I was hoping he wouldn't tell me he was happy being world No. 10. And so he wasn't. He wanted to be world No. 1. At the time, he was struggling with Nadal, Djokovic, and Tsitsipas. To become a leader, many things needed to be improved. He was already very strong, but he needed to strengthen his physical and muscular side, and work on his mental side. If I think back to Jannik five years ago, when we started, I see him completely different today."

In what way?

"The different serve, the way he manages the point, his confidence at the net, his ease in choosing to drop shots: everything has improved and changed. You learn with experience, obviously. But it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of study, a lot of dedication on his part. Jannik has a great desire to learn. To always improve."

Is Sinner a tireless worker?

"Yes, truly fearsome. Maybe in five years I've had to motivate him two or three times. He's always the first to sacrifice himself to improve, and he's a great listener. He's not imbued with the presumption he deserves. Even if you hit him hard after a match, the next day he thinks about it, reacts, and accepts what you've said. His greatest quality is wanting people around him who tell him what he doesn't want to hear."

How important is mental training?

"It all starts with attitude, openness, the desire to improve. Sure, you have to learn to drop shots or go to the net at the right time. But first, you have to find the courage to do it, the courage to make mistakes, even to fail. A lot of it is in the mind. We're fortunate that Jannik has a very strong foundation of mental strength, and we've simply tried to multiply this virtue."

And how do you do it?

"First of all, you have to gain the player's trust, convince him that limits can be overcome. He has innate talent. You don't become a colt if you're a nag. Now you can see that he can hit aces in important moments, but for that to happen, you have to feel confident in your shot because you've worked on it for hours and hours in practice."

How has he improved over the years?

"Certainly his serve. But above all his tactics, the sensitivity with which he reads each shot, selecting choices from a range of possibilities that has expanded. He knows he can return his opponent's serve further or closer to the line depending on the score, how he feels, and the nature of his opponent. Everything is studied, everything is planned, and Jannik's brain manages to identify, by managing these factors, the right action."

Can you give me an example of these adjustments?

"If I don't want him to be attacked on his second serve, I have to get him used to hitting ten kilometers per hour faster, I have to get him to take as many angles as possible. In 2022, he served his second serve under 150 kilometers per hour and 95% of the time to his opponent's backhand. Now he's hitting close to 160 and he varies the direction of his serve a lot, so as to surprise his opponent."

Is the box torture for coaches?

"Real torture. Because you can't say too much; every word has to be immediately understood by the player. You have to motivate him, not stress him, correct him, but support him. You have little time and you have to choose the right moment to give advice."

Players always take it out on the box...

"It's perfectly normal, it's the tension of the match. We always tell him that just as he misses a smash, we can miss a tip. We try to work on the match trend, not on the individual point. If we tell him to return from further away, maybe he'll only win the point two percent more than he would have without the correction. But at Sinner's level, those few percentage points count a lot."

When you were disqualified for the ointment affair, were you afraid Sinner might crack?

"It was a difficult moment, without a doubt. You don't understand what's happening, because you're not to blame. But in tennis, we're used to always seeing the glass half full and turning things around. You were eliminated early at Roland Garros? You'll have more time to prepare for Wimbledon . They disqualified you? You have time to recharge, regain energy, and fix that technical aspect. That's how you get out of the whirlpool, always. And Jannik is a phenomenon in this regard; when he steps on the court, he erases everything that's off the court, he removes it. Only the match matters."

Are the ailments he occasionally experiences physical or psychological?

"I don't think there's a single cause; it's many small things that, when combined, can lead to these small breakdowns, but let's remember that there have been four in the last five years. These guys aren't robots. Heat, fatigue, and tension can all combine. The temperature in Paris was prohibitive, and he arrived there under significant physical and mental stress. Ultimately, there's no single factor; in that case, it would be easier for us to correct it. We have to live with these episodes, working to avoid them."

Sinner is amazing at never giving up.

"This type of player always feels stronger than the others, and therefore has to prove it. This gives them the strength to always react, to never give up even when you're badly behind. Jannik, even in this, is special. He tells himself: I'm sacrificing so much, I'm giving up my youth for this game, and I definitely can't give up."

How much do defeats weigh?

"They're not all the same. Some defeats help you improve. When we lost to Alcaraz in New York, we started changing our serve movement and fixing some technical aspects. A player who loses, if he's intelligent, is more willing to work to improve. Especially if he wants to become or remain world number one."

Imagine watching a match between Sinner and one of the champions of the past. Who would you choose?