p Absence has only made the heart grow fonder for a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a. /p
p The Italian is preparing to compete on home soil for the first time in 12 months this week at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a. A year ago, Sinner enjoyed a superb run to the championship match in Turin, roared on by his passionate home fans. He returns as the No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings after a stunning 2024 season, during which one of his few disappointments was missing his home ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome due to injury. /p
p “Many things make [this tournament] special,” Sinner told ATP Media on Thursday in Turin. “First of all, being an Italian and playing in Italy. I haven’t played in Italy this year, because I missed Rome. That was a really tough one, but I am even more excited and happy to be here. /p
p “[My season] is very highly rated. I would have never imaged to win so many things this year. Many things have happened. Thinking back to how everything started in Australia… For me, it’s about always trying to improve as a player, as a person, as a human being. I’m even more proud and happy with how I am evolving. Hopefully next year it will also be this process of improvement.” /p
blockquote class="twitter-tweet"p lang="en" dir="ltr"Sinner likes speed ⚡️????br /br /#39;The Flash#39; aka a href="https://twitter.com/janniksin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@janniksin/a is the hero in town!a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NittoATPFinals?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#NittoATPFinals/a a href="https://t.co/nPygLPGm8f"pic.twitter.com/nPygLPGm8f/a/pmdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1854631763190202560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"November 7, 2024/a/blockquote script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"/script
p With Sinner having racked up 65 wins and a Tour-leading seven titles in 2024, including his first two major crowns at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a and the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a, expectations of the 23-year-old in Turin will be sky high. Yet while some players find competing with the backing of home support tricky, the clean-hitting Sinner is confident it can help him qualify from a a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ilie-nastase/n008/overview'Ilie Nastase/a Group that also includes a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniil-medvedev/mm58/overview'Daniil Medvedev/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alex-de-minaur/dh58/overview'Alex de Minaur/a. /p
p “The atmosphere is just amazing,” he said. “It’s very different to other tournaments because you can lose and still win the tournament, so there are different scenarios. I’m just happy to be back here and hopefully I can show some good tennis.” /p
p A feeling of elation was in the air throughout Sinner’s run to the final at the Inalpi Arena a year ago. It was reflective of the recent boom Italian tennis has enjoyed, and Sinner’s subsequent rise to World No. 1 is only likely to have enhanced home fans’ spirits ahead of their hero’s 2024 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a campaign. /p
p “For sure [my success] has had an impact [on the way Italians see tennis], but we must not forget the rest,” said Sinner. “It started with what I’ve seen with my eyes: [Fabio] Fognini winning Monte-Carlo, [Matteo] Berrettini winning loads of tournaments and then making the final of a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a. Then everything started to grow a little, then I arrived. /p
p / “Now, we have so many great players. [Lorenzo] Musetti has had an amazing season, [but also] [Flavio] Cobolli, [Matteo] Arnaldi and [Luciano] Darderi. So, we have many players. Also the doubles, with Simone [Bolelli] and Andrea [Vavassori], and also on the women’s side. Tennis is growing quite a lot in Italy and I’m very happy that I am also a part of this and can help it grow, especially when lots of kids start to play.” p /
p/p
p Sinner will begin group-stage play at Inalpi Arena on Sunday evening, when he will take on a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a debutant a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alex-de-minaur/dh58/overview'Alex de Minaur/a. He leads the Australian 7-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. /p
p “Alex is a bit different as a player. He is a very solid, very fast mover [with] a great mentality,” said Sinner. “You have to win every point somehow. He is not going to give it to you, so you have to go for it. With the work ethic he has, he deserves to be in the position he is in. /p
p “He won’t hold back, he will keep improving as a player, and it’s nice to see him here. The first time is always very special. You see something new, you feel less pressure because it's the first time. So, let's see what's coming.” /p
[ATP APP]
p After losing his first six tour-level matches against Medvedev, Sinner has forged a major turnaround in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, which now stands at 7-7. Meanwhile the Italian holds a 2-1 lead against Fritz, whom he defeated in the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a final in September. /p
p “[Medvedev] has had an amazing career, winning a lot of tournaments,” said Sinner. “He has a great mentality on the court, moving incredibly well. He’s changing his game style a little bit so he’s even more dangerous to play. He has been one of my key points in evolving myself as a player, because I struggled a lot to beat him. Now, every match is quite open, you never know what’s going to happen. He's a very tough opponent. /p
p “a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a, I might know slightly less, because we haven't had so many encounters yet. But he is an amazing server, hitting the ball very strong. He has improved a lot in the last two years, starting with the serve and returning very well. He is an all-round very good player, and he has had an amazing season.” /p
p [NEWSLETTER FORM] /p
