‘Pressure is a privilege’: Jannik Sinner on going from champion skier to Wimbledon winner

Jannik Sinner won his first Wimbledon title on Sunday after an epic match at the grass-court major, but the young champion started his athletic career on the ski slopes, not the tennis court.

The 23-year-old, who grew up in the mountainous region of South Tyrol in Italy, defeated two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in London to win his fourth Grand Slam title. Alcaraz had won the past five matches between the two rivals, notably at the French Open just four weeks ago.

“Every match has its own story,” Sinner said in an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Tania Bryer. “I was very close in Paris … and he’s [Alcaraz] a player who makes me a better player. When you lose to someone, you try to keep working on things and try to change the result at times, and I’m very happy that I did it yesterday.”

Sinner said he shares a “great rivalry on the court” with Alcaraz and a “good friendship” outside of tennis. Sometimes the two check up on each other over text.

“Every one of us needs someone who pushes ourselves to the limits and every time when we step on court, we try to to beat our opponent, but in the same time, having a great respect,” Sinner said.

Sinner served a three-month doping ban earlier this year but returned to the tennis circuit in early May. His victory at Wimbledon was his first Grand Slam victory since the ban.

“It feels amazing,” Sinner said. “Yesterday, 24 hours ago, you never know exactly what’s happening, and that makes it even more special. I saw my family here, the whole family, and then the whole team, and having this trophy, winning this with them in my box, it’s truly amazing.”

Sinner’s first love in sports was skiing — not tennis. He started skiing from the age of three and went on to win a championship in giant slalom when he was eight, then was a national runner-up at the age of 12.

His sporting idols weren’t tennis players, but instead skiing champion Bode Miller. It was at the age of 13 that he decided to solely focus to tennis.

“I was lucky enough to try many sports, so I understood in early ages what I really love to do, and in skiing, it’s difficult because you make one mistake, you cannot win the race, it’s only one and a half minutes just going down as fast as you can” Sinner said.

The challenge of tennis and having multiple chances to win is what gripped him.

“Tennis is something where you can see also the mental parts. You see when someone struggles, you see when someone is enjoying it, and you have one opponent at a time, and you don’t always have to play your very best tennis to win that day,” Sinner said.

“So, there are many things as a tennis player you have to go through, but that’s exactly what I love,” he added.

On what it takes to adopt a winner’s mindset, Sinner said it is all about embracing challenges.

“Pressure is a privilege to have,” Sinner said. “I really like the pressure, because I think if you don’t feel pressure, it means that you don’t care about what you’re doing, and I feel privileged to be in the position where I am … this is exactly the motivation why I keep working hard.”

What sets apart the 1% of athletes from everyone else is how much they’re willing to struggle, Sinner said.

“I always go on a practice court with a purpose, and I believe that the mindset you start to build in practice sessions, when you struggle, when you have pain, when you at times don’t want to practice, but you still go and you still do everything possible to make it a good day,” he said.

“If you cannot do it in practice sessions, then you cannot do it in the real matches. So, I think this is one of the biggest parts.”

The top-ranked men’s singles player expressed gratitude for his failure against Alcaraz last month, because it pushed him to do better.

“I don’t think there are failures in our sport, unless you give 100% and [if] you tried everything possible, then you know you’re going to have good days and you’re going to have bad days,” he said.