Jannik Sinner: "When I skied that I had fear... in my mind in tennis, it's nothing to be scared about"
Jannik Sinner opened up about a particular fear that he had during his days as a skier after his Round of 32 Indian Wells win against Jan-Lennard Struff.
Sinner started skiing and playing tennis when he was a 3-year-old. Over time, he became one of Italy's best junior skiers and even clinched a national championship at the age of 8. However, despite his skiing prowess, he ultimately chose to pursue tennis professionally as he wanted to compete in an individual sport that would allow him to face an opponent directly.
The Italian has experienced a meteoric rise in recent years, establishing himself as a top-10 player and proving his ability to compete against and beat the best in the second half of the 2023 season. Sinner's most notable achievement was his miraculous comeback at the Australian Open, defeating Daniil Medvedev in the men's singles final.
Since lifting the Australian Open trophy, Sinner has also won the Rotterdam Open. His triumph in Rotterdam, combined with Medvedev's lack of participation, saw him break into the top 3 in the ATP Tour rankings.
The Italian, unbeaten so far this season, registered yet another straightforward win as he ousted Jan-Lennard Struff from the Indian Wells Masters. After the match, he briefly touched on the fear he had to face when he competed in downhill skiing races.
"When I skied that I had fear to go, you know, the downhill races. When you go very fast and then you jump 20, 30 meters, you know, it's different. Then I had this fear. And then in my mind in tennis, it's nothing to be scared about, no?" Sinner said during a press conference.
Jannik Sinner will face either Ben Shelton or Francisco Cerundolo next
Sinner was at his clinical best against Struff. The latter had three break points, but failed to capitalize on any of them as the Italian saved them all. At the same time, he was opportunistic when it came to breaking Struff, converting two out of the four break-point chances he had during the match.
The reigning Australian Open champion was also superb with his second serve, as he amassed a greater percentage of second-serve points (76%) than Struff could with his first-serve points (73%). The result saw Sinner rise to No. 2 in the ATP Live Rankings.
Sinner's Round of 16 opponent will be either Ben Shelton or Francisco Cerundolo. The Italian's head-to-head records against both players are even. He has faced Shelton twice previously, winning once and losing once, and in four meetings against Cerundolo, he has won twice and lost twice.