Fabio Fognini responds when asked for his honest opinion on Jannik Sinner

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Jannik Sinner enjoyed a career-best year in 2024, as he won his first two Major titles and reached number one in the world.

Sinner’s 2024 season was one for the history books as he cemented his place at the top of the ATP Tour with several huge performances.

It all began in January when Sinner won the Australian Open against Daniil Medvedev in a five-set thriller before doubling his Major tally with a win over Taylor Fritz in New York.

The Italian also added three Masters 1000 titles to his collection, as Sinner won the Miami Open, Cincinnati Masters, and Shanghai Masters.

He didn’t stop there, however, as Sinner won the ATP Finals for the first time in his career, before defending the Davis Cup title with Italy.

It was a sensational year for Sinner and one that his fellow countryman thinks has had a massive impact on Italian tennis.

Fabio Fognini thinks Jannik Sinner has created a ‘huge movement’ in Italian tennis

In an interview with Relevo, former world number nine Fabio Fognini was asked for his thoughts on Italian star Sinner.

“With him, a huge movement has been created,” he said.

“Now there are many children who play tennis, and this is the most important thing.”

He then went on to speak about his experience playing in one of the most competitive eras in tennis history.

“I’ve lived through an incomparable period, not only in tennis but in all sports,” said Fognini.

“Now that the new generations are arriving, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but it will be difficult for them to live through an era like mine.

“It was synonymous with excellence.”

Fognini competed against Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, the so-called ‘big three’, on several occasions.

“On the one hand, I rubbed shoulders with three historic tennis players, three icons of the sport,” he said.

“Yes, [Andy] Murray was the fourth, but the others were the Hail Mary.

“For me, what they did cannot be reproduced.

“I stress the good fortune of having played at the same time [as them], but also the bad luck of having suffered [against] them.”

What was Fabio Fognini’s record against Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer?

As is the case with many tennis stars throughout the 2010s, Fognini often struggled against the ‘big three’ losing a fair few matches.

In the case of Djokovic and Federer, the Italian never managed to come out on top during their time on the ATP Tour.

Fognini was winless in 12 encounters with the pair, but enjoyed a better time of things against the Spaniard as he won four times.

Perhaps his most impressive win of all came in the semi-finals of the 2019 Monte Carlo Masters, where he took down Nadal in straight sets on his way to the title.

The Italian powered through on the clay, before beating Dusan Lajovic in the final to take home his maiden Masters 1000 crown.

Now 37 years old, Fognini is ranked just inside the world’s top 100 and hasn’t reached an ATP final since his victory in Monte Carlo five years ago.

He’ll hope to change that in the new year, and will look to get things started at the Australian Open which begins on January 12.