Jannik Sinner On Becoming World No.1, Playing On Grass & The Euros! 🇮🇹 | Halle 2024

Well, Yannick, first of all, I have to start by congratulating you on being world number one, the 29th man to become world number one. Tell us what it means to you. It means a lot to me. I think, you know, one thing is to win a tournament, the other one is being number one in the world. I'm very happy to be in this position. Obviously, a lot of work is and a lot of sacrifices are made to be in this position. Otherwise, now something new starts for me. It's something exciting. You know, I'm just looking forward to go again on court. I think there is where I'm happy on the court and trying to find a solution on my problem solving. So, let's see. What's the reaction been in Italy? We saw Cinemania in Rome and you were only there for a day. So, what's the reaction been back at home? Yeah, it has been quite big. It was nice to share this moment with all the Italians. I was very happy to come back to Rome just for a little while and to see how the reaction was. And then I'm here because here is a tournament starting, a very exciting tournament. So, I'm already focused about here. You've had so many messages from former players, well, from all kinds of people. Any messages that stand out the most? Well, you know, my idol was always Roger. So, his message was very, very special. But, you know, all the number ones with these beautiful messages has been amazing. So, I wish I could thank them everyone and in person would be best. Fans love superstars, but I get the impression that you don't really see yourself as a superstar. You certainly don't behave like a superstar. How has the reaction been within your closest, close-knit family? No, me and my family and my people who I love and, you know, the friends, we're always the same. It's just an achievement. Obviously, everyone is happy and I am very lucky that I can share these things with them. But otherwise, I'm the same person as I was one year ago or two years ago. I just love to spend time with them, doing something different, you know, going on go-kart or playing cards or whatever. And yeah, that's where I feel very good. You mentioned the titles, 13 titles already, none on grass yet. How much do you enjoy the challenge of grass? Yeah, I think it's a different challenge. I started to like it more from last year. You know, I think when I made the semis in Wimbledon, also my general confidence level went up. So, it's going to be very exciting to step on court again here. And in Halle, there are not so many chances to win a grass court title in one year. So, I'm just excited to go back. Hopefully, I can show some good tennis. I have a very tough first-round match against Denon. He plays incredibly well. So, it's going to be a great test for me. And hopefully, I can, as I said, raise my confidence level for then Wimbledon, which Wimbledon is my biggest goal. One of the biggest challenges for all of you players must be the limited amount of time you have to transition from the clay swing, which is quite long, to the grass swing, which is so short. How can you best manage that? Well, that's a good question, because I'm still very young. Someone told me I only played 20 matches on grass, so it's a very small amount. But in the other way, you have to go through these situations trying to become a better player. Usually, I'm quite fast, coming from one surface to the other one. But on grass, it's different. The movement is completely different. You slip away and the serving is different. You have to go more to the net. So, it is a little bit different. But I do believe that this kind of general situation makes me a better player. So, I have to accept it. And hopefully, I can improve from last year. And on the court itself, during matches, it's fair to say the best players always seem like they have more time than everyone else. It's certainly the case with you on a hard court already, on a clay court. How can you make more time for yourself on the grass? Well, I think the serving is very important. If you serve well, you have the confidence of holding the serve quite comfortable and then trying something new on the return game. I think the first shots of the rally are really, really important. And also, how you start the match, how you start each set, it's very important. And I think last year, I made this very well in Wimbledon. So, I try to take this positive part from Wimbledon here in this moment and trying to start with a positive mindset. You also just finally have a big distraction. Let's call it a distraction of the Euros. How much are you going to be watching the football over the next month? Yeah, I do follow. I think the Euros is what I follow the most in football. So, obviously, tonight Italy is playing. I'm going to watch. I'm focused about Italy, but I follow also the general, let's say, tournament. Hopefully, it's going to be exciting.