"I made $1200 bucks, not $5 million" - Jimmy Connors makes feelings known on Jannik Sinner's controversial Davis Cup withdrawal with personal anecdote

Jimmy Connors reasoned that Jannik Sinner skipped the Davis Cup because the season has been long and more tournaments are being added, while sharing a personal anecdote. The tennis great also noted that the Italian would still get backlash if he won for five straight years.

Jannik Sinner defended his Australian Open title and won his first Wimbledon title this season. He had a dominant Asian hard-court campaign, winning titles at the China Open and the Vienna Open, but retired from the Shanghai Masters due to an injury. He will be next on the court for the Paris Masters, en route to the ATP Finals, where he achieved victory last year.

However, Sinner has withdrawn from the Davis Cup to focus on the 2026 Australian Open, where he could win his third straight title. Despite winning the Davis Cup in 2023 and 2024, he received backlash for skipping this year. But former player Jimmy Connors reasoned that the year had been long and the critics would call him out even if he won five.

"He could go on there and win four or five in a row, and he'd not play and they'd still give him some trouble for it. We've talked about this. The year is long anyway, and adding more and keeping adding more." (via Connors Advantage podcast)

Connors further shared an anecdote from his career, noting that he didn’t particularly enjoy playing the Davis Cup but had to compete until he reached ‘burnout’ because he needed to support his family. He also revealed that he earned only $1,200 back then, whereas players today are rewarded with as much as $5 million.

"I hate to keep going back and saying, back then I had to make a living for my family. I came up in a time when winning a tournament, I made $1,200 bucks, not $5 million bucks. I came up in a different time, and you could only play so much before there were these two words that were called burnout. I never wanted to do that because I always wanted to go and perform the best I could.."

Sinner will play Zizou Bergs in the opening round of the Paris Masters, scheduled on October 29, 2025.

Jannik Sinner once shared why finishing the year as No. 1 would be difficult

Jannik Sinner at the Internazionali BNL D'Italia 2025 - Day Eleven - Source: Getty

Jannik Sinner lost his top rank to his toe-to-toe rival, Carlos Alcaraz, at the 2025 US Open, where he failed to defend his title. Although he won his Vienna Open title and will have an opportunity to rack up points in the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals, he can only achieve a total of 3000 points. He has edged closer to the Spaniard now, but in a previous interview, he dashed hopes of finishing the year as No. 1.

"For me, the end of the year is very important. I’m very lucky because the ATP Finals are in Italy and this gives me a lot of energy with my home people... This year, it’s going to be impossible." (via Tennis World USA)

Jannik Sinner contested in the Six Kings Slam in October, defeating Alcaraz and becoming champion for the second straight year.