In June 2019, 17-year-old Jannik Sinner was wandering around the players’ hotel at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, where he was competing as a wild card in the qualifiers. Suddenly he was met by Severin Luthi, Roger Federer’s coach who has been the Halle champion nine times.
“I remember Luthi stopping me on the steps of the hotel and asking me if I could warm up [Federer ] he’s waiting for his match,” Sinner told ATPtour.com on Saturday ahead of this year’s grass-court edition of the ATP 500. “I said, ‘Yes, yes.’ It was a great feeling, a special feeling.”
Swiss legend Federer went on to lift his 10th and final title in Halle that year. This year Sinon is competing as a top seed and, for the first time in his career, is No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Even though the pair have never faced each other in a competitive match, the 22-year-old Italian has kept Federer’s advice to heart.
“I didn’t have the chance to play with Roger in an official game, and this is something I will always remember, but I remember the training sessions with him,” Sinner recalled. “I didn’t have many, so I miss them all, more or less. He gave me some kind of mental advice: Try to enjoy it and keep looking forward to working hard. That’s all he told me, and it was great to share the court with him.”
Sinner comes to Halle with a record of 33-3 on the season, a total that includes his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Having broken major codes at this year’s Australian Open and now becoming the first Italian World No. 1 in history, could winning a tour-level grass court title be the next milestone for the 22-year-old in 2024?
“It would be very special, because you don’t have that many tournaments on grass courts throughout the year,” Sinner said. “It’s only here and Wimbledon that I play, so I only have two chances [this year]. But in general, it’s good to be back on grass.
“It’s different. On the first day, you have to go with the upper hand and it is difficult especially if you play the first round with players who have already played on grass. They have a little feeling, but this is the place where they believed in me, they gave me a rare card with qualies back in the day. So I’m happy to be back here and hopefully I can show good tennis early.”
Jannik for the footwork 👟@ATPHAlle | #TerraWortmann Open pic.twitter.com/rn3e42UmhL
– ATP Tour (@atptour) June 15, 2024
The offender will not be given much time to settle on German grass with his first round opponent Tallon Griekspoor. Dutch World No. 23 reached the semi-finals this week at home to ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where they won the trophy in 2023. Sinner will enter their match in Halle with a 4-0 lead in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
“It will be very difficult. Normally he plays well on grass,” said Sinner in German from Griekspoor at the pre-tournament press conference. “He works a lot on serve and volley. He volleyed very well. It’s going to be a very tough game, but I’m looking forward to playing on grass.
“It will be a good test for me, in my first match on grass, to see where my level is. I’ll give it my all, and I’m looking forward to the crowd here. The atmosphere is good and I will just try to enjoy it.”
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