Daniil Medvedev’s Ex-Coach Praises Italian Tennis for Jannik Sinner’s Rise to the Top

Jannik Sinner secured six trophies, including two Majors, from eight finals in the 2025 season.

Daniil Medvedev’s Ex-Coach Praises Italian Tennis for Jannik Sinner’s Rise to the Top

Jannik Sinner (Image via X/Jannik Sinner HQ)

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Daniil Medvedev‘s former coach, Gilles Simon, lauded the Italian tennis system for the development of Jannik Sinner. The 24-year-old stands No.2 in the world with four Grand Slam titles.

Sinner ended the season as the player with the most titles after arch-rival Carlos Alcaraz, the winner of eight titles from 11 finals. The former’s tally was six trophies he won from 10 finals. Simon, during his interview with Eurosport, said not every talented player can become someone like Sinner, who truly put Italy on the map.

Not everyone can be Jannik Sinner. There are a few potential Jannik Sinners per generation, and they can be born anywhere in the world. But the question is: when you have one, can you make them into a Jannik Sinner, that is, can you really get them to the very top? That’s what the Italians have managed to do, and that’s what, in my opinion, we do a little less well.

Italy hosts major tournaments like the Italian Open, ATP Finals, and the Davis Cup. Italian tennis president Angelo Binaghi recently shared his ambition of making the Rome tournament into the fifth Grand Slam.

I feel that, in our system, there’s a slight loss of talent, which means that a player who could win a Grand Slam in our system will end up ranked 10th in the world. A player with the potential to be Top 10 will be ranked 30th, and so on. In my opinion, that’s why we don’t win Grand Slams, because to win one Grand Slam, we would need to be lucky enough to have a player who has the potential to win 10.

Gilles Simon added

Two Italian players are in the top 10. Apart from Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti, on the back of three finals (in Monte Carlo, Ningbo, and Athens), ended the season as No.8. Last year, he clinched the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.

On the women’s side, Jasmine Paolini is occupying the eighth spot thanks to her Italian Open win and runner-up finish at the Cincinnati Open. She experienced a meteoric rise last year as she reached two Grand Slam finals, at the French Open and Wimbledon, losing both to Iga Swiatek and Barbora Krejcikova, respectively.

Jannik Sinner defended his ATP Finals crown

Jannik Sinner wrapped up the 2025 season on a high note. At the ATP Finals, he defeated Carlos Alcaraz, which helped him not just to improve his winning streak to 31 matches but also his head-to-head record over the six-time Grand Slam champion to 6-10.

Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner (4)
Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner (Image via X/Jannik Sinner HQ)

A special year with highs and lows, but full of gratitude for the people around me. Couldn’t do it without this team. One of the best weeks of the year, thank you for the support and all the hard work. Time for a little break now. 

Sinner had a 58-6 win-loss record this year. Four of these defeats he suffered at the hands of Alcaraz in Rome, Paris, Cincinnati, and New York.

He featured in every Grand Slam final this year. At the Australian Open, he defended his crown by breezing past World No.3 Alexander Zverev. Following his French Open heartbreak, he took his revenge on Alcaraz by clinching his career’s first Wimbledon title. Sinner then lost the US Open final to the Spaniard.

Because he failed to defend the US Open title, he was dethroned from the top by Alcaraz. But his win at the Paris Masters helped him return to the top. As Alcaraz did not have many points to defend and Sinner had 1,500 points to defend at the ATP Finals, the latter couldn’t end the year as No.1, as Alcaraz needed to reach the semifinals to secure the year-end trophy.

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