Sinner: ‘My aim is Australia, but I have to protect my career’

“I’m fine; we’re doing everything we can – and more – to get back on court as soon as possible and stronger than before; I’m following all the protocols.” And as far as the current schedule is concerned, the earliest possible date is Australia – “perhaps a few tournaments before that”, Jannik Sinner goes so far as to say whilst visiting Allianz to launch the global partnership with the company. A partnership built on shared values, such as trust and a vision for the future, and which, for this very reason, will be characterised by the slogan “Be like Sinner”.

But the focus of the interview is, of course, the months that Italian tennis’s number one has been spending away from the court. A period that the five-time Grand Slam champion does not hesitate to describe as ‘difficult’. If only because ‘for the first time, I’m not in control’, he explains. And it could not be otherwise. At this stage, ‘patience’ and ‘trust’ are crucial – trust that Sinner must inevitably place in the doctors who, like him, are ‘doing everything they can to protect a career’ that must last for at least another fifteen years.

“These haven’t been easy months; I miss competition, I miss being on court, I miss playing tennis,” he emphasises, adding, however, that during these days – spent mostly on the simulator, as his second great passion remains motorsport – every effort is focused on getting his knee back to full fitness. And with this in mind, the hours spent ‘in the gym’ are the only means the champion has at his disposal to get back ‘on the draw’. ‘I have to accept it,’ he says with a hint of melancholy, whilst also acknowledging that this difficult period has made him appreciate what he has achieved in recent years.

‘Before, I’d go to a tournament, win, and move on to the next one – that was just the way it was.’ Now, away from the courts, everything that was once taken almost for granted is fuelling his comeback, ‘because the desire to win will be even greater’. And to perhaps experience that ‘unique thrill’ once more, that ‘biggest dream’ of being number one in the world. Achieved in part thanks to a team which, although it keeps a close eye on him ‘24 hours a day’, has become a bit like his second family. Starting with Darren Cahill, because whilst it’s true that ‘Norman (Magnus, the future new coach, ed.) is very similar to Cahill”, it is equally true that Sinner “will certainly miss the personal side of ‘Darren’”, because in these nearly five years of close contact, the coach “has become almost like a second father to me; he’ll always be in my life”.

A story that ends, therefore, ‘with no regrets’, as Cahill himself was keen to point out.