‘We couldn’t afford it’: Jannik Sinner reveals why he planned to quit tennis at age 23

Jannik Sinner has revealed that his tennis journey could have ended much earlier if things did not go his way. Speaking ahead of the US Open 2025, the Italian said he had a plan to quit tennis if he was not ranked inside the top 200 by the age of 23 or 24. Sinner turned 24 recently and has already won three Grand Slams and achieved a World No. 1 ranking.

Sinner explained that his family could not afford the high costs of traveling to tournaments and paying for a coach, which is why he had planned to quit tennis. However, Sinner started earning money when he was just 18, which gave him confidence and belief to continue. So far, Sinner has earned $46,279,987 (over Rs 400 crore) in prize money alone.

“I told my parents when I left home that if I wasn’t in the top 200 at 23 or 24, I would quit, because we couldn’t afford it with the money we had. Traveling to tournaments costs a lot. If you have a coach, it’s even more so. I was very lucky because I started earning money at 18, and that’s when I felt more confident . When you’re young, you just talk about a dream. You don’t even really believe it,” Sinner said at the press conference ahead of US Open.

“Sometimes I said, ‘I want to become world No 1, or win a Grand Slam’. But those were just dreams. The position I’m in today was way beyond my dreams . Now it’s different. Now I understand my potential. I understand that if I play well, I can win tournaments. The perspective is different. But if you ask me when I was young, my dream was just to break into the top 100. That would have been my happiness. Everything that came after that is a huge bonus,” he added.

Two of Sinner’s three Grand Slam wins have come this year, with titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. In between those triumphs, he faced a three-month suspension after accidentally taking a banned substance. Sinner will start his US Open title defence against Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic on August 25.