Jannik Sinner's words on the schedule-issue didn't please his colleagues, nor former players or coaches, such as Paul Annacone, former coach of Roger Federer, who struggled to stomach the thoughts of the young Italian. The ATP No.1, in recent weeks, responded to the words of Alcaraz, who claimed that the calendar should be reformulated, because too much was being played. The Italian played down the problem, saying that players could arbitrarily decide whether or not to play a tournament. It should be emphasized that many tennis players, even high-level ones, have complained about too many commitments, spread throughout the competitive year, which don't give athletes the chance to take a breather and recover from the fatigue of the many tournaments, which are played practically every week.
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Sinner's words, as mentioned, did not please Annacone who expressed his opinion, not in line with that of the 2-time Grand Slam champion: "I really liked hearing Sinner say that you play a lot of tennis. There are too many tournaments. But if you don't want to play, don't play. Obviously it's easier when you are one of the best players in the world, but if you are about to play the championships at the end of the year, trying to respect your commitments in terms of team, sponsors, partners and so on, it is very difficult to understand when not to play. So it is not so simple to say that if you don't want to play, you don't play. But the structure of the professional circuit is really fractured, and always has been," he said.
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Also the Frenchman Hugo Humberttook a stand against Jannik, saying: "I hear some people, like Jannik Sinner, who say that you can choose not to play, but they are not clear about it. When you are 50th or 60th in the world, you try to play as much as possible to climb the rankings."
Meanwhile, in a Sky Sport special, the Italian spoke about his special bond with his two coaches Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi. Jannik described his two coaches with a similarity that reflects their great differences, defining them as ice and fire.
"Simone is a very technical and tactical coach, while Darren helps me mentally and finds the right words at the right time. The difference between one and the other at a certain point is perfect because they respect each other in an incredible way. In my opinion I have to thank my team that has always been close to me. For example Darren Cahill came to me, he didn't go home during that period, he was with me, my father came and thanks to them I felt safe, protected. That's why I say that when you win tournaments or even matches that mean a lot I always say that it's thanks to the people who are close to me because without them all this wouldn't be possible. I don't know how I was able to overcome all this and I'm happy with how I managed it. In the end my job was to separate the problem from my work. I always tried to feel good on the court, I always trained and I'm always mentally prepared to try to play good tennis. In the end, that's why I succeeded," explained Sinner.
