He swapped skis for a tennis racquet and now teenager Jannik Sinner is attracting the attention of one of the sport's greats at the Australian Open.
The 18-year-old Italian beat Australian Max Purcell to reach the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time, following praise from Roger Federer.
The Swiss has backed Sinner and says "we'll see so much more from him".
"What he said is nice for me. But we still have to work," Sinner said after his 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 6-4 victory.
The world number 82, who made his major debut at last year's US Open and won the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan in November, will face Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in the next round.
"He has great footwork for a big guy, because we forget how tall he is," said Federer, who along with Spanish world number one Rafael Nadal has hit with 6ft 2in (1.88m) Sinner in Melbourne.
"He can play like most of the best movers in the game right now, he can also play open stance and closed stance, which I think is a huge advantage for movement for the future."
Sinner was a competitive junior skier but switched his focus to tennis five years ago and says he is still learning."Because I'm young, forehand and backhand are quite solid. The shot is getting better and better, which is our goal," he said.
"You cannot play the whole match with the same speed. You have to change a little bit the ball heights, which I have to learn. I have to learn everything."
There were also wins on Tuesday for Spain's ninth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, Italian 12th seed Fabio Fognini and Argentine 14th seed Diego Schwartzman.
Former Australian Open finalist Marin Cilic progressed in straight sets, as did 2016 semi-finalist Milos Raonic.
By Stephen Asante, GNA
Kumasi, Jan. 20, GNA - Asante Kotoko Coach, Maxwell Konadu, has admitted that the Porcupine Warriors needs to maintain their winning composure to ensure a successful campaign in the 2019/2020 Ghana Premier League (GPL).
Two late goals from teenage sensation, Mathew Anim, and striker Richard Arthur enabled the Porcupine Warriors see off the bottom-of-the-log club, Dwarfs, 2-0, in their recent fixture.
Undoubtedly, the two-time African champions laboured to overcome their less-fancied opponents after back-to-back defeats to Medeama and Berekum Chelsea.
Going by statistics, Kotoko had so far won three matches out of five, scored six and conceded three - leaving them in the sixth position of the eighteen-club league.
Ahead of Sunday’s (January 26, 2020) match day six titanic clash between the two most glamorous Ghanaian clubs, Kotoko and Hearts, in Accra, Coach Konadu said: “Kotoko should do more to improve their performance".
“Truly, the confidence and morale of my players have been dented by our recent losses. We have to pick up the pieces and move on, because our next match is quite difficult,” he told the media in Kumasi.
Ghana’s version of the ‘El Classico’ would be honoured at a time when the Phobians are also recovering from an earlier setback, having lost their first two matches of the league.
The two clubs have more than forty (40) league titles between them, but the going had not been that rosy in the current campaign.
For Hearts, who currently occupy the ninth position on seven points, a win over their archrivals would definitely come with all the motivation associated with such crucial encounters.
It had been over a decade now the last time the Phobians annexed the league trophy.
Ostensibly, seeing off Coach Kim Grant seemed to have come as a good omen as their last couple of games in his absence had recorded some interesting results.
Definitely, a win for the Phobians would not only pacify their anxious supporters, but would also serve as the turning point for the former CAF Champions League winners.