Professional tennis might never have seen Jannik Sinner, given the many directions the well-rounded Italian could have explored.
But thanks to his love of the sport, relentless pursuit of improvement, and subsequent success on court, professional tennis has been better for his emergence.
At just 21 years of age, Sinner has already reached the quarterfinal stage at all four Grand Slam tournaments, cracked the top 10, and won six ATP titles.
Given those results are coupled with some of the purest, most powerful ball-striking around, he is considered one of tour’s brightest rising stars.
TICKETS: Catch Jannik Sinner in action at Australian Open 2023
His rapid ascent has also shaped this widely-held opinion. He began 2019 outside the top 500, yet ended it at 78th. By the end of 2020 he was a top-40 player, and was inside the top 10 by November 2021.
At first glance, Sinner seems to have enjoyed the smoothest of career journeys, especially given he only turned his focus to tennis relatively late – he was junior champion skier in Italy until age 12 – yet progressed quickly anyway.
Sinner doesn’t quite see it that way himself.
"If you want to improve, you are going out of your comfort zone, because you want to improve something else. So this is a very important thing for me,” he told ausopen.com.
“Every day you have different challenges; sometimes you are tired, sometimes you lose matches what you should have won. You have to go back to the practice courts and trying to do better.
“It's a lot of hard work obviously, but I'm happy where I am, and hopefully I can go further.”
Sinner’s 2022 season has been notable for two such matches he describes.
He impressed Wimbledon’s Centre Court crowd when he led Novak Djokovic by two-sets-to-love, a set away from his first Grand Slam semifinal, only for the eventual champion to roar back to win in five.
And he came even closer at the US Open, holding a match point against eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in their breathtaking quarterfinal – a contest hailed as one of the great Grand Slam battles – before losing in five sets after more than five hours on court.
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It was how he responded to those defeats that was most instructive.
In his very next tournament after Wimbledon, Sinner stormed to the Umag title, beating top seed Alcaraz in the final.
And while bitterly disappointed after losing to his Spanish rival in New York, Sinner was, even in that moment, able to point to many encouraging signs.
“(I’m) seeing always the positive side,” he told ausopen.com, noting his improved physicality and ability to raise his level in bigger matches.
“When I wake up, I try to improve, in every single thing. And having fun, which is the most important thing, no?
“Sometimes it's tough, because you don't play the way you want to, and then sometimes you think about that the whole day. But this is part of what I chose to do, and I'm very happy that I chose this.”
Tennis is better for the fact that he chose to pursue it, especially given his watchable style.
He admits he enjoys giving his mind breaks from his life as a pro; he still loves to ski, enjoys cars – burning around the track in a go-kart, if time permits – and plays football with his friends.
Hosting Lindsey and skiing near my hometown is something that l'll treasure for a long time. It's hard to put into words how truly special it was for me to spend the day and ski with one of the greatest to ever do it ⛷️ pic.twitter.com/P9MVYwLPnp
— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) October 16, 2022
But ultimately, he is drawn to tennis over everything else.
"I'm the kind of person who really likes to play,” he said.
“Skiing for me at some point was not anymore a game, you just go down (the mountain) in the fastest way. So I chose to take away skiing.
“Tennis is a fun sport, you have to watch also in the other side (of the court), you play one against one, so you see your opponents, which in skiing is not the case. When you're down, you have the chance to change something, which in skiing is not the case.
“I think that's the reason why I chose tennis.”
That passion, plus desire to improve, positions him well ahead of Australian Open 2023.
Many observers believe Sinner could make a real impact at the year’s first Grand Slam event, especially after another impressive season in 2022 that saw him maintain a position in and around the top 10, plus win almost 50 matches.
With Australian coach Darren Cahill now in his corner, Sinner was contemplating heading Down Under even earlier than usual to prepare his assault.
“I like to start the year in Australia because first of all it’s summer, it's hot there,” he said.
“I had a good start making quarterfinals (in 2022) so hopefully I can start well again.
“And then we see."