All Eyes Are on Jannik Sinner's Player's Box as He Competes in the Wimbledon Men's Final
Jannik Sinner is looking for redemption at Wimbledon after a heartbreaking loss at the 2025 French Open. While he is known for his strong work ethic and stoic persona, he will likely be leaning on those his player's box for moral support. In tennis, a player's box is the designated area where the player's coach, support staff, family, and other close friends are invited to sit during the match.
But the personnel in Sinner's player's box have shifted dramatically over the last two years. Sinner parted ways with both former fitness coach Umberto Ferrara and physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi following the investigation into his positive tests for a banned substance in March 2024. Sinner tested positive for clostebol, a steroid that can be used to build muscle mass, although he was cleared of fault or negligence. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) ruled Sinner had been inadvertently contaminated with the substance.
'I would describe my team as nice people, happy people,' Sinner told the ATP Tour in 2024. 'Everyone knows very well what he has to do. I feel good with them and lucky to have them, so I think it is a very good team.'
Sinner later hired replacements, but fired fitness coach Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Ulises Badio shortly before Wimbledon without explanation.
'Nothing seriously bad happened. They did great work for (the past) three months. Sometimes, things happen,' Sinner told reporters ahead of the tournament. 'The timing obviously isn't the best, but having done a lot of work (together) before, it won't affect this Grand Slam a lot. I feel well physically and mentally and ready to compete.'
Here, who else might be in Sinner's player's box:
Cahill joined Sinner's coaching team in 2022, and he'll be retiring at the end of this year, despite protests from Vagnozzi. Wimbledon will be one of his last tournaments with Sinner.
Both coaches have praised Sinner's maturity on and off the court. 'I know he's just 23 years of age, but sometimes it feels like he's much older and wiser than what we are,' Cahill told reporters in Melbourne during the Australian Open in January. 'He's an incredible young man. It's no surprise to us to see him back in the final. I think that his level has been great for a long time now, but his level here in Australia is even better.'
'I think Jannik likes this situation, the pressure point, to be in a storm, in a difficult moment,' Vagnozzi said. 'So in this moment, he [plays] the best tennis.'
Sinner's mother might be in the box, or she might not. It just depends how anxious she gets. During the Italian Open in Rome in May, a reporter from Gazzetta found Siglinde outside. 'I left at the end of the first set. I'll take a stroll around here and wait for the match to end. I never watch Jannik's entire matches live; it rarely happens,' she told the Italian publication. 'I prefer to stay in front of the TV. Only in Turin did I manage to watch the final and a bit of the previous rounds. My husband stayed; he never has any qualms.'
Her tense reactions at the French Open a few weeks later went viral, so we can only imagine how she'll feel during the finals at Wimbledon.
Sinner has one sibling: an older brother named Marc. He was born in Russia in 1998, and was adopted by Sinner's parents at nine months old, two years before Jannik was born in 2001. Marc is a fire brigade instructor in South Tyrol, Italy. In an interview with Rome's daily newspaper Il Messaggero in 2024, he expressed support for Sinner's success and said that their relationship is 'like that of most brothers.'
"I am used to not seeing him at home, but when he returns it's wonderful,' he told the newspaper. 'Every week of the year is busy with training and tournaments, so we try to keep updated by phone almost daily.'
It's unclear if Johann will be at today's match, as sometimes his business creates a conflict in his schedule. Sinner's parents run their own guest house, Haus Sinner, where Johann helps out in the restaurant when not on the tour with his son. 'They are always working and that's what I love about them,' Sinner told reporters in 2024. 'They're not changing anything with me.'
Notably, however, Sinner's father missed the French Open this year, which he lost in a nailbiter to Carlos Alcaraz. 'My dad was not here because he was working today,' Sinner told reporters at Roland Garros after the match. 'Nothing of our success changes in the family.'
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