Jannik Sinner has revealed he received advice from Roger Federer when he was 17 in Halle as the Italian returns to Germany to begin his grass court season.
The Italian will play his first tournament as world number one in Halle where he begins his grass court season.
However before speaking about the future, Sinner reflected on his previous appearances in Halle including once when he was 17 and competing in qualifying.
As he was preparing for the qualifying event, Sinner bumped into Severin Luthi and received a big opportunity to practice with the eight-time Wimbledon champion, “I remember Luthi stopping me on the stairs of the hotel and asking me if I could warm [Federer] up for his match,” Sinner recalled to the ATP website.
“I said, ‘Of course, yes.’ It was a very good feeling, a special feeling. I didn’t have the chance to play against Roger in an official match, and this is something that I will always miss, but I do remember the practice sessions with him.”
As he continued his recollection of practicing with Federer, the Italian spoke about some advice he received from the Swiss maestro, “I didn’t have many, so I do remember every single one, more or less. He gave me just kind of mental advice: Try to enjoy it and keep looking forward to working hard,” Sinner stated.
“That’s the only thing he told me, and it was very nice to share a court with him.”
At the event that year, Sinner would lose his opening round qualifying match to Joao Sousa but left Halle with something much more valuable which would help him to achieve his lifelong dream.
Now Sinner enters his weakest surface on paper although last year the Italian reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon.
Ahead of the grass court season Sinner detailed what makes the surface so difficult as he makes his third appearance in Halle, “It would be very special, because you don’t have so many grass-court tournaments throughout the year,” Sinner explained to the ATP website.
“It’s only here and Wimbledon where I am playing, so I have only two chances [this year]. But in general, it’s great to be back on grass. It’s different. The first day you have to go through the movements on the surface and it’s difficult, especially when you play the first rounds against players who played already on grass.
“They have a little bit of feeling, but this is a place where they believed in me, they gave me a wild card in qualies back in the day. So I’m happy to come back here and hopefully I can show some good tennis early on.”
Sinner’s grass court season will begin against Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, which the Italian has a 4-0 head-to-head record against but they have never met on grass.
The world number one admits it will be a difficult contest as he only won two matches in Halle before, “It will be very difficult. In general he plays well on grass,” Sinner explained.
“He does a lot of serve and volley. He volleys very, very well. It will be a very difficult match, but I’m looking forward to playing on grass. It will be a good test for me, for my first match on grass, to see where my level is. I will give everything, and I’m looking forward to the crowd here. The atmosphere is good and I will simply try to enjoy it.”
