Jannik Sinner has a pretty dedicated fan in Maria Sharapova, as they were both coached by the same person.
Maria Sharapova is quite familiar with Jannik Sinner because she actually spent time with him on a tennis court. The Russian and the Italian were coached by the same person Riccardo Piatti which is how they connected in the first place.
They met up a few times since she retired from the sport, maintaining a friendly contract, and she recently revealed that he's her favourite player to watch on the ATP Tour right now. Speaking in the Rennae Stubbs podcast, Sharapova mentioned Sinner and how she always roots for him.
You know, the last coach of my career coached Sinner for several years, so I got to play with him a few times. So, you know, I'm always rooting for him. I just like his humble approach to the sport.
Sinner is not the only player she watches from the younger generation but more broadly she's a fan of the new young players. She enjoys the variety in styles and personalities as well as the vastly different backgrounds they come from.
I love seeing the younger generation. There's an aura about the men's game, it's very evident. They have different styles of play, different personalities, from different parts of the world, and it's just fun to see these rivalries come together. I think the men's game is in a good state.
Sinner talked about Sharapova as well, admitting that she has an incredible mindset which he got to know as he interacted with her through Piatti. It's very nice to see younger and older players connecting, especially if they're from different sides of the sport.
We'll see if Sinner ends up having as good of a career as Sharapova had.
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