The Prince who became the King: Jannik Sinner welcome to the club

Long time readers of this rather idiosyncratic blog know that the great man Andreas Seppi is known as the King of South Tyrol and  Sinner is the Prince.  Now the coronation has been complete with Jannik Sinner winning the Australian Open and doing it from 2 sets to 0 down in first Slam final joining the likes of Gaston Gaudio to do it.   The first Italian man to win a Slam since Adrian Panatta.

It was not a question of if but when, in relation to Sinner winning major titles.  Sinner has a great temperament and excellent work ethic always willing to build and add new things to his game.   He was easily the best player in event, but that counts for nothing unless you get it done in the final.

You don't start building a house with the roof.   The foundations are so important and the fact Sinner played football in addition to being an outstanding skier has helped his tennis so much.  Leaving his home region to work with Ricardo Piatti in the development years,  the original coach in South Tyrol to the current crew of Vagnozzi and Cahill.

Sinner has brilliant balance, the core strength and the ability to hit huge off both sides makes it harder to get him on the defensive.   As well as tinkering with the serve,  he has added some more muscle and improved his defensive skills.

The fact that Sinner beat Mr Australian Open Djokovic in the semis had many people thinking he would just waltz in the final just needing to turn up and defeat the quirky Danil Medvedev.   The gangly Russian who did well to make the final after coming back from 2 sets down twice to win matches and another 5 setter with Hurkacz.   Medvedev was on fire the first 2 sets being ultra aggressive serving well,  returning from close to the baseline and not making errors.

Sinner did not panic,  he started to improve his first serve percentage which helped him get more free points and gave him opportunities to step into the court and dominate with his groundstrokes.  Medvedev could not keep that level up and Sinner breaking at 5-4 to take the 3rd set changed the momentum.

It was obvious the cumulative fatigue was catching up with Medvedev and naturally in pressure situations players tend to revert to type.   The Russian became more defensive,  though Sinner was hitting with more pace,  penetration and depth.   

Sinner's definitely got the South Tyrolean temperament where he is less volatile than say Fognini and other Italians.   He was able to turn around the match and as he was so much fresher than Medvedev who was clearly gassed in the 4th set,  but still got to be good enough to execute the plan.   The thing that was impressive with Sinner besides coming back from 2 sets down was that he played the match instead of the situation.   What I mean is "hey,  I am in the 5th set and close to winning my first major title"   that's the situation and he played point by point to deservedly win the title.

Personally I am very happy for Sinner as he is a good guy, as well as an outstanding player.  He gave a shout out to his parents and it's obvious that he was raised by good people.  Always respectful,  humble,  dry sense of humour and it's great that he didn't have those parents who are trying to live their dreams through their kid.

It's fantastic to see Italian tennis on the rise.   They have a lot of players,  plenty of places to play tennis,  very passionate and knowledgeable fans.   Italian challenger events get excellent crowds as well as the major events.   

The fact the great man Andreas Seppi from the tennis hotbed of South Tyrol had a very successful career definitely helped inspire Sinner in the early days.   Now the transition from Crown Prince to King is now complete.