Where Will the Winter Games Find Northern Italian Skiing Enthusiast Jannik Sinner? Rooting for the Home Team, of Course

Beyond the walls of the Via Sant’Andrea courtyard where I meet Jannik Sinner—a four-time Grand Slam champion and tennis’s world number two—the city’s anticipatory thrum is on the rise. Mascot-branded Sprinters appear in greater density by the hour, and visitors wearing their home country’s flags bounce in their steps as they clash against the Milanese.

Yet Sinner—dressed in baggy black jeans, a pocket chain, and a one-of-a-kind Nike ACG vest, which can be inflated or deflated based on warming needs (US athletes will wear a version of it on the medal stands at Milano Cortina)—seemed at ease. “What I love about Jannik is that he’s not loud, but powerful,” Martin Lotti, Nike’s chief design officer, tells me as we watch Sinner posing for photos. “I feel this extends to all parts of who he is.”

Of course, Sinner is not competing in these Games—but at one point, that wouldn’t have been a foregone conclusion. What many may not realize: Sinner won Italy’s junior national championship in giant slalom alpine skiing at the age of eight, and was a national title runner-up again at age 11. At 13, he moved over to tennis full-time, but who knows where he’d have gone if he’d stayed with racing instead of switching to rackets.

Honoring his winter sports roots—and his upbringing in the Dolomites—Sinner is also an ambassador and volunteer for these Olympic Games. Here, he talks to Vogue about what it was like to be a Northern Italian kid growing up on the mountains—and who he‘s following on the slopes now.

Vogue: What is your relationship to skiing these days? Do you still get out there?

Jannik Sinner: Yeah, it’s an interesting relationship. When I’m at home in the wintertime, I really love to go. But I was starting to get very, very careful, you know, four of five years ago… I had to be sure that nothing happened. [Before that] I think I was not, you know, mature enough… I started to realize that injuries can happen really quickly. Of course, though, I look and watch and follow a lot of skiing.

That’s cool. So you still keep up with it?

I do, of course. I really love it, there are some great, great Italian athletes. [But for me,] I am definitely going less and less. Just because of the simple fact that you can get hurt and you never know what's going to happen.

With your skiing history, is there anything that you miss, or miss being able to do?

I would say the adrenaline. And to be honest, that’s the only thing I really miss. I would say that skiing has this different sort of pressure, though. You need to perform well by not really knowing where you’re standing. In tennis, you have a huge hand, because you always know the score. And you know that, at times, maybe you can play at 80% just to get through. That’s enough for that day. But skiing is not like this at all. You just go, and you have no idea [until it’s done].

I hadn’t thought about that. You’ve got nothing to compare yourself to, and there’s nothing to calibrate against. You just have to go full-throttle.

Yes. So you have this pressure, and [for me] this turned into mostly, also, doubts. So I think maybe I enjoyed the competition part a little bit less. But, for what I miss, I would say for sure the adrenaline. I miss going fast.

You mentioned Italian skiers that you’re watching. Is there anyone in particular that you're a fan of or friends with?

I've been in contact lately with Giovanni Franzoni. He’s my age. And also, the story we have is that we used to race together. It’s nice to be in touch.

I’ve been thinking about Lindsey Vonn and her skiing through her torn ACL. That mentality… it’s incredible to me.

Yes, I'm good friends with Lindsey. I will say: the greatest athletes, they have a lot of courage.

In your skiing days, what did you find to be the most challenging element?

Where I’m from, we are lucky, because I open the house door and there’s the slope. So it was so natural to go right into skiing. Like, for people who live by the sea, you go to swim. For us it’s the same with snow. If you’re a good skier from where we are from, you’re not only good in Italy–you’re good around the world. Tennis is not like this! But where I started to struggle was with the time commitment… you can put in a lot of time for it all to be over in one second. I really struggled to get the mentality that one mistake can cost you, you know? In tennis, you can make one mistake after the other, but maybe you’re still going to stay in the match.

In tennis, there are many more moments for redemption.

And when I was young, I won a lot in skiing. I never won anything in tennis. I think I wanted to build more towards that, toward [winning at something different].

Whenever you stop in and have the time, what do you like to do in Milan?

To be honest, I don’t know Milan very well. But it is a city where I connected very much in 2019, when I won the Next Gen tennis finals here. I am a fan of AC Milan. And I have my favorite restaurants here, but they’re always changing, you know? It’s a big city, so there’s always something new to try.

How long will you stay?

Just a few days, actually. Then it’s home to Monaco, before going over to North America. Indian Wells and Miami, coming up.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

Click here to read article