“As soon as I got there, I started crying”: Jannik Sinner recalls leaving home at 13 to pursue tennis dream

Reigning Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner recently clinched the title in Rotterdam, during which he took some time to reminisce about his tennis journey starting from when he left home as a teenager to begin his career as a professional tennis player.

A native of the Italian village of Sexten, Sinner moved to Bordighera to train at Riccardo Piatti's tennis academy at the age of 13. Piatti was coaching Canadian tennis player Milos Raonic at the time, after having worked with Novak Djokovic, Ivan Ljubicic, and Richard Gasquet.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the 22-year old opened up on the emotions he experienced when he left his mother Siglinde and father Johann.

"It was tough for them [my parents] too," admitted Sinner. "I was 13 and a half years old, and the truth is that as soon as I got there I started crying, I called them after two hours. "They must have thought, 'Here, we have to go get him'. Instead, I told him to be calm, that everything was fine.
"I was lucky enough to stay in a fantastic family, that of Luka Cvjetkovic: there were two children and also a dog. I was happy, I'd never had a dog before."