At the moment of his next triumph, Jannik Sinner thought emotionally about his origins – and his parents. By winning the title at the Masters tournament in Miami, the current tennis dominator jumped to second place in the world rankings for the first time in his career. “That means a lot to me. Nobody would have expected that,” said the South Tyrolean Sinner after the confident 6:3, 6:1 in the final on Easter Sunday against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrow. “It’s a great feeling and I never thought I’d get to this point. I come from a normal family and my father and mother both still work.”
It was Sinner’s sixth tournament victory since August 2023. This year, the 22-year-old has already celebrated 22 wins in 23 games – after triumphs at the Australian Open and in Rotterdam, he has only lost the semi-finals in Indian Wells against Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner now overtakes the Spaniard in the world rankings and is the first tennis professional from Italy to take second place.
Congratulations from Italy
“Thank you for the emotions you gave us,” wrote Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on X. “Huge sinner!” congratulated former head of government Giuseppe Conte. At the end of last year, Sinner had already led his home country to its first Davis Cup triumph since 1976.
He still has big goals for this year. When asked whether he was aiming for more Grand Slam titles or whether he wanted to replace Novak Djokovic as world number one, Sinner replied: “We talk more about the Olympics, that’s only every four years.” In this form, Sinner will be one of the favorites at the Summer Games in Paris, where Alexander Zverev would also like to play for gold again after his triumph in Tokyo.
“Feeled like a rock star”
“It was my third time here in the final and I thought to myself that I would be the lucky one this time,” said Sinner. “I’m very pleased to be able to hold the big trophy.” Dimitrow was the clear crowd favorite after his strong two weeks in Florida, and the fans celebrated him since his victories as an underdog against Alcaraz in the quarter-finals and against Olympic champion Zverev in the semi-finals. “I felt like a rock star here,” said the 32-year-old. “Unfortunately, the ten years have made a difference today. It’s clearly Jannik’s week, he’s playing incredible tennis.”
For Sinner it is the second career victory at a Masters 1000 tournament after the success in Toronto last year. “I’m very proud of how I handled it,” Sinner said. “That was very good. I just stay in the here and now.”
In the first interview with the winner on the court, Sinner talked about the upcoming clay court season. “That’s usually where I have my problems,” he said. “Let’s see what I can do this year. You don’t have much time. There’s not even a week to get used to the clay court.”
