Toni Nadal Picks Jannik Sinner as Ideal Player He Wants to Coach: “I See in Him Discipline and Good Manners”

Toni Nadal picked Jannik Sinner as the ideal player he would like to coach. At present, Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi are coaching the four-time Grand Slam champion.

Sinner is in Paris to bid for his first French Open title. He is on a 29-match winning streak, thanks to his Sunshine Double win, and his victories at the Monte-Carlo Masters, Madrid Open, and the Italian Open, which also made him the second man after Toni’s nephew and former protege, Rafael Nadal, to win the three Masters 1000 titles on clay in the same season.

Toni, while speaking at the courage to take risks–’tennis as a metaphor’ meeting, organized by the I Tennis Foundation at the Angelini Academy, lauded Sinner for his discipline and mental fortitude. As per Toni, Sinner is someone who can accept even uncomfortable truths.

If I have to pick a player to coach, it would be Jannik. I see in him discipline, good manners, and a mentality reminiscent of the greats. I like working with people who accept the truth and do not create problems. Currently, many coaches feel compelled to tell young players what they want to hear, and I will never do that.

Rafael Nadal won 16 of his 22 Grand Slam titles under Toni, who left his team at the end of the 2017 season. Sinner’s coach Cahill wanted to leave his team at the end of the 2025 season, but they decided to extend their partnership for this season.

At the French Open, Sinner will be locking horns with Clement Tabur in the first round. If the 24-year-old wins, he will become the seventh man in the Open Era to complete the Career Grand Slam.

Sinner finished as the runner-up last year after squandering a two-set lead and three match points against Carlos Alcaraz, who will be skipping the tournament because of a wrist injury. The seven-time Major champion has also pulled out of Wimbledon.

Frances Tiafoe thinks rivals can defeat Jannik Sinner at the French Open

Frances Tiafoe urged players to stop putting Jannik Sinner on a pedestal and instead think that the four-time Grand Slam champion is not unbeatable. Tiafoe, who will lock horns with Eliot Spizzirri in the first round, trails 1-5 in the head-to-head meeting with Sinner.

I’m not gonna sit here and, continue to put him on a pedestal. He’s a hell of a player, obviously, he’s doing monumental things, but I think, you know, we got to believe that you can do the ultimate task and beat him. I mean, everyone’s capable, especially top guys, guys are capable, but I think the biggest thing is to kind of get him out of his high horse mentally. I think we’re all kind of putting him on a different stratosphere, which he is, but you kind of kind of create a little bit of illusion to get you good, to get you to get over the line.

Frances Tiafoe said at the press conference

Tiafoe is a onetime quarterfinalist at the French Open, reaching that stage last year, losing the match to Lorenzo Musetti. Before arriving in Paris, the American ace suffered an exit in the round of 16 of the Hamburg Open.

Sinner last lost a match in the quarterfinal of the Qatar Open against Jakub Mensik. In the Australian Open this year, the World No.1 failed to complete the hat-trick as eventual runner-up Novak Djokovic clinched a shock five-set victory over him before losing in the final to Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner has so far lifted four titles on clay and reclaimed his No.1 ranking from Alcaraz after winning the Monte-Carlo Masters.

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