Now Sinner’s youth coach speaks: “That’s why his rise is so great.”

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Heribert Mayr must first let the flood of emotions subside. Along the way he followed the Australian Open final between Jannik Sinner (22) and Daniil Medvedev (27) on the live ticker. He suffered, trembled, hoped – and finally rejoiced. “Indescribable feelings came to me,” says the 68-year-old when Blick reached him in South Tyrol.

Mayr was Sinner’s youth coach. He transformed the new Melbourne champion from a diamond in the rough into a national talent at a very young age, until Sinner moved to the Ligurian coast to Bordighera at the age of 13 to join the school of star coach Riccardo Piatti (65).

Mayr is “incredibly proud” to have laid the foundation for Sinner’s impressive development. But the big Grand Slam party will have to wait. ‘We won’t celebrate until he’s back home in the Pustertal. Then we will toast together,” says Mayr, who congratulated his famous protégé via WhatsApp.

“He could never sit still”

The coach of the “Tennis Center South Tyrol” has been in his position since 1978. He has seen a number of good young players come and go. But Sinner stands out because the “Biabl from Sexten” was different from all the others. Slim, lanky, a bit playful and at the same time remarkably calm and hardy.

“I couldn’t have imagined then that he would become a Grand Slam winner,” says Mayr: “When it comes to coordination, reaction speed, timing and eye, he was further than others. But he had done nothing for athletics. By the time he moved away at age 13, he was playing tennis two or three times a week. Others were already playing every day at that time. That’s why, in retrospect, his rise is so astonishing; his success is even more important to him now.”

Mayr specifies: Sinner was not a vulnerable boy. On the contrary: “He could never sit still. At home he tried to turn off the lights with the ball. He played football, was a very good skier, went climbing and mountaineering.”

Mayr confirms the picture that Sinner painted of his parents Hanspeter and Siglinde during his victory speech in Melbourne. Sinner thanked them for the freedom they gave him. And because he didn’t put any pressure on him. He said, “I wish everyone could have my parents.” Mayr also explains: “They never interfered with the training. They always said: you already know what to do.”

He remembers Sinner himself as a cheerful tennis student: “He always came to training with pleasure and always had a smile on his face.” You can still see that relaxed attitude in him today when he has a saying ready during the field interviews.

The down-to-earth Gucci poster boy

Mayr has also noticed that Sinner is now a top star in Italy, appearing in TV commercials and having signed multi-million dollar contracts with brands such as Gucci, Rolex, Nike and Lavazza: “And even if the football-focused ‘Gazzetta dello Sport’ if you have countless pages writes about him, it means something! And yet none of this has changed him. Money or not, Jannik has remained the same.”

Elsewhere there was a change. Tennis has become even more popular in South Tyrol since the success of Sinner, says Mayr: “We feel a huge boom. We have more children at the tennis school. And many adults are also digging out the racket again. The euphoria here is enormous.”

Mayr believes Sinner has the potential to have a major impact on the tennis world outside Italy: “Because he is so likeable and approachable.” Or to put it another way: because he simply remained the good old Jannik.

Source : Blick