He's the new world No 1, a Gucci model with a glamorous tennis star girlfriend, £17m in the bank and A-listers as pals: Jannik Sinner, 22, is the man to beat at Wimbledon as his title charge begins
- Jannik Sinner arrives at Wimbledon as world No 1 for the first time in his career
- The Italian, who is a model for Gucci, is dating tennis star Anna Kalinskaya
- He won his first Grand Slam earlier this year in Australia but has never won SW19
It has taken some getting used to for Jannik Sinner to understand just how famous he really is.
Arriving here at Wimbledon as world No 1, the first Italian player to ever reach the top of the men's rankings, a Gucci ambassador and with tennis girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya in tow, Sinner is the it man and the it couple.
Sinner is, for the most part, fiercely private. He grew up in Sexten, a town in the Dolomites, where his dad Johann worked as a chef and his mother Siglinde a waitress at a ski lodge.
Even now, with the lights brighter than ever before, worldwide fame seeing 70,000 people chant his name inside AC Milan's San Siro stadium, or Gucci laying on a dinner packed with A-List celebrities to congratulate him reaching world No 1, Sinner longs for the serenity of family.
'I don't care about being famous,' he told L'Equipe on the eve of Wimbledon, where he starts his campaign today against Germany's Yannick Hanfmann.
Gucci model Jannik Sinner kickstarts his bid to win his first Wimbledon singles title on Monday
Sinner has been preparing for the tournament with tennis star girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya
Having won his first Grand Slam title in Australia earlier this year, Sinner has risen to world No 1
'I know that whether I'm followed by millions [on social media] or just a few dozen, I'll always have the few people who really matter and whom I love. I will always be loyal to them.
'What is more important than being surrounded by my family who are proud of me and my friends who have known me since I was a kid? Everything else you can live without, whether you're a tennis player or not.'
Sinner, who has already won $5.5million (£4.3m) in prize money to date in 2024, won his maiden Grand Slam at Australia in January and yet the biggest intrigue around him is that of his relationship with Kalinskaya.
Kalinskaya, who previously dated Aussie bad boy Nick Kyrgios, saw their relationship confirmed in Paris by Sinner in a press conference.
'I'm with Anna, yes, but we keep everything very confidential – you know my confidentiality… I won't say more,' he said, setting tongues wagging back in Italy after months of speculation.
Russian star Kalinskaya, 25, appears ready to rival Paula Badosa and Katie Boulter to be the 'it' relationship in tennis after going public with Sinner.
She is a laid back character, one who is proving increasingly popular on social media after she revealed that 'too many footballers' slide into her private messages.
No stranger to tennis relationships, Sinner will hope he doesn't suffer the same fate as Kyrgios, whose break-up proved bitter in 2020.
In a message to her fans on social media at the time, Kalinskaya wrote: 'We broke up. We aren't friends. I understand you are his friends and it's cool but I'm not going to talk about him. Have some respect for me as well please.'
Kalinskaya (right) previously dated Nick Kyrgios, but she seems much happier with Sinner
The Russian player previously explained 'too many footballers' had slid into her DMs before
He has proven to be a heart-throb off the court, securing lots of endorsement deals
Gucci are one of the biggest brands that the top 10 player has worked with in recent years
Kalinskaya later clarified her comments, insisting there is no bad blood between herself and Kyrgios: 'He did nothing. He is a good person and I didn't mean to comment about him. I don't know why people think it's about him. He is a great player and nice person.'
Should Kyrgios, who is here at Wimbledon on commentary and punditry duty for the BBC, find himself on the mic for a Sinner match, it remains to be seen if his relationship with Kalinskaya comes up.
The real mark of superstardom is when a player can transcend the sport and through his tie-up with Gucci, Sinner has become an unexpected fashion icon as well as the best in class on court.
Gucci's poster boy, who is nicknamed 'The Fox' and who boasts his own travelling set of ultras known as the 'Carota Army', caused a stir at Wimbledon last year when he walked onto court carrying a personalised Gucci bag.
The one-of-a-kind duffle bag, which included his initials JS stitched in, soon swept across social media. For Gucci, they, with the help of Sinner, set the news agenda for the day.
And so his marketable is obvious. In fact, his reticence to lean into his fame makes him even more endearing to companies rushing to get to the front of the line for his signature.
As well as posing for Gucci photoshoots, Sinner has lucrative tie-ups with Nike, Head, Rolex, Gucci, Lavazza, Alfa Romeo, Technogym and Parmigiano Reggiano.
Sinner made a bold fashion choice for his opening Wimbledon match last year as he walked out onto Centre Court with a luxury custom Gucci duffel bag
It was the first time that a player has wore a luxury bag out onto Centre Court at Wimbledon
Sinner has a dedicated band of supporters known as the 'Carota Boys' ('Carrot Boys')
All those tie ups require appearances and Sinner is more often than not happy to oblige. Just lack week after arriving in London he was cosying up to Ryan Gosling, Salma Hayek and Taylor Swift's ex Joe Alwyn at the Mount Street Restaurant in Mayfair for a dinner hosted by Gucci to mark his world No 1 status.
Sinner wants to stay at the top, though, and is doing all in his power to do so.
The Italian, who is an avid Formula One fan, has turned to the world of motorsport in a bid to find an edge, something that can take him over the top in his increasingly fascinating battle for supremacy with Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner has been working with Riccardo Ceccarelli, the founder of Formula Medicine who has worked with the doyens of F1 since the late 1980s, including Ayrton Senna, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
Ceccarelli, affectionately known as the 'F1 doctor, has put Sinner on to a series of computer exercises targeted to maximise his brain capacity and sharpen up both his reflexes and his decision-making.
'Using a joystick we make him try our hand at our computerised tests that we created ad-hoc by monitoring his performance and associating them with the lines of his brain consumption (through a frontal band) and his heartbeat,' Ceccarelli explained last year.
Sinner (right) has a burgeoning rival for supremacy with Spanish superstar Carlos Alcaraz
As a result, Sinner is leaning into his love of Formula One in a bid to give himself the edge
'Our training is aimed at creating situations that allow him to perceive sensations such as anger, discouragement, tiredness, calm, and effectiveness. He will then associate them with the various moments experienced during the matches.'
Had things in Sinner's early life turned out differently his home may well have been on the slopes rather than the court.
'Skiing is quite a common sport to get into from where I am. There are a lot of ski slopes just literally outside of my front door,' Sinner once told ATPTour.com.
'I remember the first time I went skiing. My brother was having some lessons and I saw him and I wanted to go but my mum told me 'Not today'.
'I kept crying to her and asking and then she said 'OK, let's do this'. They were expecting me to go once and then I would go home. But I stayed all day until they closed the slopes. Then I went every day and loved it.'
Instead it is here at Wimbledon, his first appearance with world No 1 next to his name, where he faces Yannick Hanfmann first up, an opponent many will disregard. Sinner may not care for fame, questions about his relationship, photoshoots and fancy dinners, but he does care about winning and there is no place better than Wimbledon to back up being best in the business.