Jannik Sinner: “Now it’s easy to talk, but he’s also gone through difficult times. Only a phenomenon can learn so quickly. Kimi Antonelli has talent, but without work you don’t get anywhere. Normality is what unites us”
If anyone can talk about talent and work it is Jannik Sinner. And that is what the former world tennis number 1 reflected on, who lost that first place in the ATP ranking due to his current injury to his right knee (he now occupies number 2), when referring to the new F champion1, the youngest king in the history of the top category of world motorsport, also Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Sinner, an example of the philosophy of effort and methodical preparation, and also for his mental and neurocognitive preparation to extract the maximum potential in every moment of every game, highlighted what has led Kimi to success apart from his talent behind the wheel. He spoke about work, effort, but above all, the ability of the young Bolognese from Mercedes to recover after going through difficult moments.without sinking, to definitively exploit this course.
“What Kimi has done is incredible. Now it is easy to talk, but he has also gone through difficult times. After a difficult first season, he has worked and learned a lot. Only a phenomenon can learn so quickly,” said the 25-year-old tennis player at an event called ‘Be like Sinner’, held in Milan.
After a difficult first season, he has worked and learned a lot. Only a phenomenon can learn so quickly
“Kimi has talent, but without work you don’t get anywhere. What he has managed to do so naturally, at 20 years old, has a lot of merit”Sinner pointed out about his friend Kimi, whom he met at the 2025 ATP Finals in Turin, when the pilot went to watch a match of his.
What he has managed to do so naturally, at 20 years old, has a lot of merit
Since then, both have publicly congratulated each other on their respective achievements and Sinner has visited him at Grand Prix on several occasions. Kimi got into a street Mercedes at the F1 Abu Dhabi GP to take it for a spin at full speed on the F1 circuit and also went to support him at the last F1 2026 Italian GP.
sinner even He dedicated the victory in Indian Wells to her after Andrea achieved his first victory in F1 at the beginning of this year in China, a milestone for all of Italy since it had been almost 20 years since an Italian had won in F1.
“I know him a little and also his father. They are normal, calm people. Normality is what unites us,” He pointed out a Kimi who, as Sinner points out, demonstrated a very young iron mantality.
He did it, for example, by promoting directly from the European Regional Formula to Formula 2 without a natural step through the FIA F3.with all eyes on him as Mercedes’ great hope for the future. That year, they also gave him under pressure by making his debut in a Free Practice 1 session of the Italian F1 GP, in front of his people, in Monza, where he ended up in an accident on the second lap.
That was a hard mental blow, but it didn’t sink and Toto Wolff chose him to become the new driver of the Mercedes F1 team at the age of 18 the following year. replacing none other than Lewis Hamilton.
There, many thought that the young talent was not prepared and it was too much pressure for the kid. And his first year was very irregular, increasing everyone’s doubts. But in his second year, he adapted wonderfully to the new 2026 regulations and swept his teammate, George Russelltaking advantage of having encountered the best car on the grid in his second year in F1. With it, he was proclaimed champion.
