Jannik Sinner – Forza!

Tennis has a new force: the 22-year-old Italian ski racer turned court champion Jannik Sinner (nickname: The Fox). Abby Aguirre meets him in the midst of an electrifying winning streak.

- By Abby Aguirre. Photographed by Norman Jean Roy

On a blazingly sunny morning in March, the 22-year-old Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner could be found on the sprawling grounds of a ranch-style home he'd rented in the Coachella Valley. Sinner was there for the annual tournament at Indian Wells, where he was looking to extend a monthslong blitz of a winning streak. I was there to ask Sinner about this streak, which culminated in his first Grand Slam title, at the Australian Open in January. His remarkable run has propelled him to world number two and made him the talk of Italy, a soccer-obsessed country where tennis doesn't normally make the front page.

But when you get in a room with Sinner, it is easy to be driven to distraction by something else entirely: his hair.
It's red, and it's spectacular. It tumbles forth in a mop of cherubic curls. It's one reason he is known as The Fox, a nickname he picked up in grade school. And it's partly why his notorious superfans, the Carota Boys, show up to his tournaments dressed in carrot costumes. As we sat talking in a cabana that served as his dressing room for Vogue's photo shoot, a stylist scrunched Sinner's curls into bigger, bouncier heights. When I asked him how he manages to stuff into the snug-fitting hats he wears during matches, he answered with no hesitation. “This is a talent,” he said.