AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2025

Simone Vagnozzi

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Simone, congrats. Do you feel that Jannik played his best tennis in the final? Were you surprised he didn't face any break point the whole match?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: Thank you (smiling).

Yes, I think he played the best match so far in the tournament. I think after the semifinal someone asked me why he play always the best tennis in difficult moment. For sure today was really important moment, and he went on court and he played the best tennis.

He like to be in this position. Yeah, was really surprised. Is not usual to don't have any break point against on the serve in the final. It was really superlative today, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It seemed like Jannik was having a bit of trouble with his hamstring. Now that the tournament is over, can you reveal how far from full fitness he was during the tournament and how impressive you felt it was that he still managed to fight his way through the tournament?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: No, he didn't have any problem in the hamstring. With the Rune match, it was little bit not 100%, not feeling 100%. This day was really hot. This one was the problem.

With Shelton, yeah, he really had a bit of cramp at one point of the match. In best-of-five match, the tournament of Grand Slam is really long. So it can happen this one. It was really, really good to manage this moment.

For sure you have difficult moment in two weeks' tournament like this one. And nothing, he was really, really good to manage this moment. Today was, again, superlative.

Q. How do you compare watching him do this tonight compared with what you were feeling when you were watching him a year ago trying to win his first Grand Slam? Is it different for you, how you experience it?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: For sure is different. For sure you see little bit with more confidence, with more calm. Also, you know that you already have two trophy in home, so it's a little bit different (smiling).

You know that he's going on the court with more confident, no? Knowing also better how to manage some moment of the match.

I think it's also him is completely different player. He have more confidence on his serve. He have more confidence how he's playing tactically on the match. All these kind of things is make the difference, no, to win this type of tournament.

Q. How high do you think the ceiling is for Jannik in terms of his potential? Do you think he has the ability to become one of the greatest players?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: You know, he's still young. He have already won three tournament. You never know what's happen in the future, but for sure he is the guy that try to improve every day, and going on court, on practice, and try to put new things on his game, try to improve physically.

So I think it's one of the guy that can reach the top level. I mean, when we speak about top level, we think about Novak, about Roger or Rafa.

We are still long way, but for sure is one of the guy that can try to reach this kind of player.

Q. Sport moves quickly. Clay, grass, the majors that he hasn't won. What traits will assist him at Roland Garros and at Wimbledon to break through at those events?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: So I think for sure is natural surface is hard court. Last year he play semis in Paris and quarter in Wimbledon. The year before semis.

For sure clay maybe is little bit more difficult. But he can play good also there I think, and he can also try to win Roland Garros.

I think Wimbledon last year he was a little bit unlucky because he was not 100% the day that he lost with Medvedev, otherwise probably we had small chances also to win there in Wimbledon.

I think we have chance to be ready to try to win Paris and also Wimbledon. So we will see.

Q. Tennis is considered as a sport which requires a lot of practice on the court in order to get some techniques. It's been just 11 years since Jannik completely committed to tennis. How did he manage to get this good a player in that short period of time?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: So I was not with him during the beginning of his career. It's unbelievable talent. It's really unbelievable talent. Mentally is really, really strong. When he wants something, he try to do as best he can.

So sometimes when someone speak about Jannik, they speak just about his groundstroke or his power. But for me, like a coach, when you ask him something, he's able to do it quite fast. So this one is really important talent to have for a tennis player, for other sport.

I think a lot of it's natural. He could be a good skier or good football player. For luck he choose the tennis (smiling).

Q. You were mentioning football and tennis. Darren was also mentioning team sports as a source of the spirit in which your team operates. To what extent do you think skiing, the mechanics of movement, have helped Jannik anticipate what's happening on the court? As a coach, do you worry when he skis? It's a very risky sport.

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: So this year he didn't ski. But he is so good, so probably will not happen nothing.

I think for the balance, for the balance that you have when you ski, is something that can help you for sure. But normally when you are good in a lot of sport, you have like a really good - in English I don't know the word really. But okay, it's the balance. This one I think is the key point that the ski give to him on the tennis.