Jannik Sinner has revealed that his tennis career serves as a sporting safe space after surviving the injury dangers of a childhood spent in ski racing.
The alpine Italian who grew up in the northern alpine regions once a part of Austria is sitting out the Madrid Masters due to fatigue and will return to the ATP in Rome next week.
No. 8 Sinner explained to the interviewmagazine website how he made the choice to concentrate on the racquet despite skiing competitively from a very young age.
“Since I was three years old I’ve never gone a winter without skiing,” he said.
“Until I was 13 I was a much better skier than tennis player , but something changed at that age.”
Sinner said that the ski racing danger factor suddenly became apparent in a brutal sport where a career could end in an instant.
“I realised that skiing was not a game for me – any mistake could cost me my life,
“But I just couldn’t conceive of not taking risks on each (race run)”
Sinner said that tennis became increasingly appealing to him.
“Tennis is very mental, I started to like it more and what won me over was that you could be victorious despite making mistakes, something that is impossible in skiing.
“When I was a skier, I was always aware that I could hurt myself badly.
“In tennis you can break an ankle, but you can’t die
“The danger of competitive skiing made me finally opt for tennis
“With a racket in hand I can be nervous, but I’m never scared – something I always felt in a downhill ski race.”
