Tennis is Sinner’s safe space after childhood ski racing

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.”