Jannik Sinner is very dedicated to tennis, but he's not obsessed with it because of a lesson he learned a few years ago when he was still growing up.
Sinner comes from an ordinary family, which has shaped his views on life quite a bit. Like many ordinary people, he wasn't really familiar with what privilege really was, and hard work has been emphasized since he was very young.
It's very on-brand to how he approaches tennis, where he focuses on the important work instead of simply chasing results. It also comes from a lesson he learned a few years ago when he was a teenager.
He spoke about it during a recent interview with Financial Times, and how that experience shaped his approach to tennis and life in general.
"I went to a couple of tournaments when I was younger – 16 or 17 – and I lost. And afterwards I called my parents and I wanted to explain what happened. And they said, ‘Yeah, OK, but we have to talk later because we have to work now, OK?’"
"At that point, I understood that obviously results matter, but what really matters is trying to work hard, waking up and going to work and doing it with a smile. My parents always came home and smiled. So that’s what they gave me: a really positive mindset with a really good work ethic."
It's a great lesson for any young player to learn because being consumed by results can do more harm than good. Ultimately, to win more, a player needs to become better, and the only way to become better is to work harder.
Sinner has done that so far in his career, and while he had a period when results weren't there, he didn't stray from it. He kept working hard, and it all paid off this year.
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