Jannik Sinner, the'former coach reveals the moment that changed everything: there's Rafa Nadal in it

Jannik Sinner’s former coach Riccardo Piatti, in an interview with Eurosport, told the behind-the-scenes story of the world number one’s rise, explaining the decisive moment that turned the Sesto Pusteria champion’s career around. Piatti guided Sinner from the time he was 13 years old to the age of 20, contributing decisively to the champion’s growth.

“The first time I saw him, I was struck by how he hit the ball and how he moved. It was all to build because physically he was small so we had to give him time to grow. Then he had to figure out his tennis because he played very little. Until he was 14 he played three times a week. The approach we had was to work a lot on technique and make the basic strokes very linear because I when I saw him I immediately compared him to Nole. For me the reference point was him.”

“I had already worked with Djokovic one year, when he was 17, I had all the videos and he was very similar to him. The idea I had, which I always had in my work, is: to understand how these players, especially the good ones, can beat the number 1 or number 2 in the world. At that time Rafa, Roger, and Nole were dominating tennis.”

Piatti reveals the moment that marked a major turning point in the Italian’s career: “In 2021 he trained in Adelaide with Rada Nadal and Carlos Moya. We were in the bubble, there was Covid and it was tremendous. He was training in Monte Carlo or Bordighera, then the opportunity came: I had worked with Moya for Raonic. And so, knowing that we were friends, Carlos pulled him in on this team and we left suddenly. From Barcelona we went to Doha and from Doha we went straight to Adelaide.”

“The first day we get to the camp and I say to Jannik, ‘You have to play 14 days with Rafael Nadal.’ The idea was to come out alive on the last day. “Don’t just stand there and push. In fact, try not to miss, but get behind his shots. Relax, don’t stand there wanting to get on top of him. The last few days you can mount on top with the shots, but the first few days accept that if you have to match you lose, however, don’t waste all your energy because 14 days is a long time.” (…) The last days they were doing a lot of matches and Jannik was starting to rise and win sets with Rafa and in my opinion it was a great period.”

“Nadal’s physical therapist told me, ‘This guy here at the end of the year will be in the top 10.’ I tell him, ‘Well, if he finishes in the top 10 I’ll buy you all dinner next year in Melbourne.’ Perfect. Jannik became 9 in the world and the next year at the Australian Open I happily bought everyone dinner. To Rafa, Carlos, Jannik because we had reached this beautiful milestone.”