Vagnozzi On Sinner: ‘For Sure It Was An Amazing Year.’

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for ITF)

WASHINGTON, December 2, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Among all of the incredible achievements that World No. 1 Jannik Sinner enjoyed during the recently completed 2024 season, Simone Vagnozzi, one of his coaches, ranks winning the ATP Finals in Turin at the top of the list.

“For sure, it’s one of the best because we are in Italy and he was not able to play in Rome,” Vagnozzi said during a recent news conference, after Sinner garnered top prize in the year-end competition by defeating Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 6-4, in the title match.  “I think this one makes more special this victory.”

Sinner’s 2024 season was filled with a number of impressive performances and awards, which include: winning a pair of major titles at the Australian Open and the US Open; garnering three Masters 1000 crowns at Miami, Cincinnati and Shanghai; attaining a 14-match winning streak and 26 consecutive sets won to finish the season; and grabbing ATP Year-End No. 1 honors.

Last week, Sinner also led Italy to repeat as Davis Cup champions, winning all three of his singles matches plus a doubles match.

“For sure [it] was [an] amazing year,” said Vagnozzi, who works alongside Darrin Cahill to coach Sinner. “We start with a victory in Australia and we finish with the trophy here. [It] was amazing year.

“It was really [a] long year – stressful year – for sure. But we are happy with everything we achieve this year. First two slams for Jannik, first win here in Italy with ATP [Finals].

“I think if someone before the start of the season ask to sign for this result, for sure we sign it. We are really, really happy about this.”

Vagnozzi emphasized he’s very happy with the journey he shared with Cahill in helping mold Sinner into the top men’s player in the world. “It’s not just my job, it is Darren’s job, all the fitness coaches, the physio that every day we work with him,” he said.

When Vagnozzi was asked what it’s like for him and Cahill, sitting side by side, during one of Sinner’s matches, he said: “We are really quiet, me and Darren, normally. Jannik is not the type of guy that wants too many words during the match. We try to give just a small, small help during the match.

“Normally, we see how we start the match, if it’s a good day or a bad day.”

In 2024, Sinner went 73-6. He recorded the most wins of any player on the ATP Tour. Of his six losses, none were in straight sets. So, there were certainly more good days than bad ones.

After Sinner won the Australian Open last January, Cahill said it was up to him and Vagnozzi to keep Sinner “pumped up,” adding: “It’s a long year, and it’s important to enjoy the moment but when we get back onto the tennis court we will try to keep in that good mindset and try to keep him winning.”

Does tennis protect its superstars?

With the all the recent headlines concerning Iga Swiatek, the WTA’s No. 2-ranked player and recent No. 1 from Poland, whom it was revealed this past week tested positive for a trace amount of trimetazidine (TMZ) – a banned drug that promotes blood flow and typically is used as a heart medication – and received a one-month ban, most of which was served when she missed the Asian Swing this fall, one has to ask: Does her doping case show that tennis protects its superstars?

While the punishment meted to the 23-year-old Swiatek may seem small compared to men’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who was not given a suspension but lost prize money and ranking points from the tournament where the positive test occurred, there is damage to her emotional and psychological well-being not to mention her reputation. And what kind of damage is there to the reputation of tennis?

Swiatek called the ordeal “the worst experience of my life.” She added: “The only positive doping test in my career, showing unbelievably low level of a banned substance I’ve never heard about before, put everything I’ve worked so hard for my entire life into question.”

As Tennis.com‘s Steve Tignor recently wrote: “The unfortunate irony of testing and transparency is that they can end up sowing more doubts about the integrity of your sport than you would have if there was no testing at all. Do the Sinner and Swiatek cases show that tennis protects it superstars? Or do they show the opposite: That the sport is willing to test them and publicize their failed tests, while being flexible enough to listen to their explanations and not destroy their careers over one likely-unintentional infraction?” Stay tuned.

2024: A great year for Italian tennis

After Italy’s recent title victory at the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga, Spain, World No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, who reached two major finals and achieved a career-high ranking, was asked about the success that Italian tennis has enjoyed this year. It also includes Jannik Sinner ascending to men’s World No. 1, winning two major titles and leading Italy to the Davis Cup title.

“I think it’s [an] unbelievable year for Italian tennis. It’s so good for our sport in our country. We have a lot of fun now in Italy, fun of tennis, you know. Tennis is growing a lot, and I think it’s really good,” she said.

“It’s really good to have Jannik as World No. 1. He’s really an example for everybody. Nice personality.

“So, it’s good, you know. I think [it] was an unbelievable year.”

ATP Engagement Club highlights off-season social media

Within a matter of days of the end of the 2024 season, news of the ATP Engagement Club lit up social media not once, twice – but three times! Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime became the latest on Friday, when he announced his engagement to Nina Ghaibi in a social media post.

“Couldn’t have dreamt of a better forever,” Auger-Aliassime wrote on his social media accounts.

Ghaibi is the cousin of three-time major quarterfinalist Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia. She and Auger-Aliassime have been together since 2019.

Earlier last week, Alexei Popyrin of Australia and Casper Ruud of Norway also announced their engagements to Amy Pederick and Maria Galligani, respectively.

In an Instagram post, Popyrin revealed his engagement to his long-time girlfriend with a photo of him down on one knee proposing and the caption “Forever with you.”

Last month, there were also several weddings involving ATP and WTA players. They included WTA star Madison Keys of the United States, who married fellow American and former ATP Tour player Bjorn Fratangelo. Also, American doubles star Jackson Withrow married Allie Sweeney.

For the numbers

Italy is the third nation to win both the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup in the same season in the last 30 years, after the Czech Republic (2012) and Russia (2021).

“Quotable …”

“I’m competitive. I want to be the one that is bringing points; otherwise, I wouldn’t do this, I wouldn’t play tennis.

“I’m really proud of myself, the work that I put in, the tough moments that I really dig deep, like it wasn’t easy. There were moments where I thought that I was done with tennis, that my body wasn’t holding up. I felt weak. And thanks to the people that were helping me, they told me and I trust them and they told me that I wasn’t weak. It was just some things were happening and I had to deal with them. After accepting that, everything was easier.”

– Matteo Berrettini, regarding the sense of satisfaction after winning his final Davis Cup match en route to Italy’s 2-0 win over the Netherlands in the Davis Cup Final.

 

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