Milan, 3 Apr. (LaPresse) – “When I finished with Jannik I admit I had a few months of dizziness, then I went towards what I like: teaching tennis”. So said Riccardo Piatti, former coach of Jannik Sinner, during an interview with Corriere della Sera, in which he spoke for the first time since his separation from the South Tyrolean champion who later became world number 1. ‘I stopped living other people's lives. 52 weeks a year away from home, the family revolving around the player's needs: Gasquet, Ljubicic, Raonic, Djokovic, Sinner’, Piatti recalled. ’Does he hear from Jannik? Rarely. But on 8 November he sent me his birthday wishes. We were on the eve of the ATP Finals. Have fun and make us have fun, I wrote to him. ‘It'll be fine,‘ he replied. He already knew everything. He knew he would win,’ revealed Piatti, who, speaking again about Sinner and his motivation, said that ‘he reminded me a lot of Novak Djokovic. A competitive arrogance bordering on malice’. Sinner will return to Rome, after three months of competitive rest, on clay, the least favoured surface. ‘He'll be strong straight away. I really believe he can win the Grand Slam this year. The suspension has extended his life: he'll arrive at the end of the season fresh. We play too much, mentally we never stop. He'll be back full of energy and motivated’, added Piatti.
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