Jannik Sinner compared to Roger Federer by sporting great

The Italian was already familiar with Vonn, having met the great a few years ago and competed as a skier in his youth. 

And Vonn has praised the 22-year-old after his success in Melbourne, “He's just a great athlete, very smart and I'm not surprised that he won Australia. I thought he would win before he did, but he's someone that's going to be around for a long time.”

The 39-year-old has been a big fan of tennis over the years, resulting in a friendship with Federer and has now drawn comparisons from the Swiss to Sinner. 

“He really reminds me of Roger, to be honest," revealed Vonn. "If he's under pressure, and he's got to serve, he's got match point or something, the perspective is that if he misses the point, nothing is going to happen.

“It's not like in skiing, where if you don't take the turn right, you crash, and you could potentially hurt yourself very badly. So it's the kind of fearlessness that he puts everything out there no matter what the situation. And that perspective, I think, is really different from most people, most athletes, and I think he uses that to his advantage."

She concluded, “In just the few years that I've known him, I definitely see his confidence level growing. He's talked about it publicly, but [he is] just getting stronger physically. He's a really tall, lanky man and he's definitely trying to fill that out and get stronger. But he's just maturing, he's growing and he's only going to get better. I'm excited to watch him continue to succeed in his career.”

Sinner has been celebrating his victory in Rome this week, after becoming the first Australian Open singles champion from Italy.

The world No.4 is next scheduled to compete at the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam, which begins on Monday February 12.