Riccardo Piatti: 'Jannik Sinner has a lot to learn'

The 19-year-old Jannik Sinner is the youngest player in the year-end top-100. The Italian has made tremendous progress in the previous two years, showing his quality on the Challenger Tour and scoring 19 ATP matches in 2020.

Jannik won the first ATP title in Sofia, becoming the youngest champion on the Tour since 2008 and adding another great result to his name at Roland Garros. A teenager reached the quarter-final on his Parisian debut, pushing Rafael Nadal to the limits before experiencing a 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 loss. Sinner's coach Riccardo Piatti is happy with Jannik's progress, although he admits the youngest still has a lot to learn in the upcoming years and improve various aspects of his game en route to the ATP throne.

"For me, it is more important to educate the player than coach him. I have always tried to deal with my players' existing talent, giving them order and drawing the best from them. Jannik was very young when he came to me, and he still has a lot to learn in every segment. 2020 was very difficult for everyone, and Jannik still had a couple of great results.

The most prominent one came in Paris, despite challenging conditions. Of course, Jannik also won the title in Sofia. He experienced physical issues against Karen Khachanov at the US Open and still finished the match, even if he lost it. There were also two significant matches against Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov in Rome. Usually, the players learn the most from the encounters they lose," Riccardo Piatti said.