"I was skiing football and tennis": Multi-talented Jannik Sinner describes love affair with more than tennis growing up

Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner has shed more light on his history in the world of sport, stating he had multiple options as a child but ended up choosing tennis.

The 22-year old has been having a career year on the ATP tour, winning his maiden Grand Slam title at the 2024 Australian Open. Subsequently, he lifted the title at Rotterdam in February, and currently sits at a career-high of World No.3 on the ATP rankings.

In an interview prior to the 2024 Indian Wells event, Sinner spoke about his childhood and love of sports. The San Candido native is currently undefeated in singles action this season, and gave some insight into why he settled on tennis as a career.

“I used to be part of 3 sports," disclosed Sinner. "I was skiing, football, and tennis. The more I went on I started to win a lot in skiing. I wasn’t so good in tennis. But I felt quite talented on the court because I played against people who were practicing so much the whole year. I just played 3 or 4 months, and I won against these guys. So I questioned myself a bit. I stopped football. I love being part of a team sport, but you can’t really make the difference. It’s really tough. You can’t see the real personality. In tennis when you’re under pressure and start losing, you see the real personality of people and players. That’s one thing where I said ‘you know what, I’ll try to play tennis.’ It makes you grow faster as a person. When I went away from home, my life changed. I had to do laundry, all these little things. You have to take care of it. I would do it all again because I feel like I’ve grown.”