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Wimbledon Champion Jannik Sinner Says Skiing Made Him a Better Tennis Player

Originally posted on Powder | By Matt Lorelli | Last updated Jul 14, 2025 1:41 PM ET

Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner is on top of the world after beating Carlos Alcaraz at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships yesterday, July 13, 2025.

Sinner, who grew up in the South Tyrolean village of Innichenm, is just 23 years old. Following yesterday's victory, he now has four major titles and 20 total ATP Tour wins, an impressive feat for such a young player. Sinner's stardom is just beginning to blossom in the tennis world, but did you know he almost pursued a different professional sport as a child?

Skiing was his first love, not tennis.

Sinner's parents worked at the local ski resort, and much of the town's community and way of life centered around the tourism and recreation that the resort attracted. Naturally, considering the close proximity and ample access to the resort, Sinner was put on skis at a young age, and he excelled quite quickly.

At the age of seven, in the year 2008, Sinner claimed a Juniors National Championship in Giant Slalom. He finished as runner-up at age 11 in 2012. A talented skier, and a lover of football (known as soccer here in America), tennis was actually Sinner's third-favorite sport to play as a child.

So, what happened? Why did the promising Italian veer away from skiing and opt for a racket? Check out a video of Jannik Sinner during a recent ski outing. Tap or click below to watch.

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According to an interview Sinner gave to Vogue in 2024, he gave up on skiing, and pursued tennis, due to his lean and light stature:

"I was winning a lot when I was young in skiing, and in tennis I never won,” he told Vogue. “And then slowly I started to lose in skiing, because physically I was not ready to compete. I was always quite skinny and everything.”

“The reason why I chose tennis was, in tennis you can make mistakes. You can lose points but you can still win the match. In skiing, if you make one mistake, one big mistake, you cannot win.”

Sinner has a point when it comes to the different competitive natures of skiing and tennis. In ski races, a skier competes against the entire field at once. In tennis, at least in singles matches, it's man vs. man or woman vs. woman. The margins are different.

He spoke with fans during the 2024 US Open about how skiing has helped him become a better tennis player.

"But I feel like [skiing] has impacted me more on the mental side, because you have a completely different mentality by skiing," he said. "In skiing you make one mistake and you just can't win the race anymore. In tennis, you can make loads of mistakes and still win the race... Skiing is a nice sport though."

Despite Sinner's move away from skiing, he appears to still enjoy the sport. His pal and tennis-lover Lindsey Vonn took to social media to congratulate him following the victory. Vonn shared a few pictures of the pair during a recent ski outing.

Check out the shots below. Notice Sinner's form. Looks like a ski racer if we've ever seen one!

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Tennis is inherently more popular than skiing on the global scale, but the sports have quite a bit of overlap when it comes to mutual fandom and athlete participation.

In fact, POWDER Magazine founder Jake Moe is an avid tennis player and coach in the Sun Valley, Idaho area.

This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

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