Former world No 1 Kim Clijsters believes that Jannik Sinner has made a “very smart” decision by hiring Magnus Norman as his new coach.

It was reported by The Times earlier this week that five-time Grand Slam singles champion Sinner will start working with Norman ahead of his 2027 campaign, following the departure of long-time coach and mentor Darren Cahill.

A former world No 2 and the 2000 French Open runner-up as a player, Norman is set to work alongside Simone Vagnozzi as part of Sinner’s team.

Having officially retired from tennis in 2004, Norman initially coached Swedish compatriots Thomas Johansson and Robin Soderling, though he is best known for his long-time partnership with Stan Wawrinka.

The Swede helped guided Wawrinka to a career-high ranking of world No 3 and helped the Swiss win three Grand Slam singles titles, with the 41-year-old triumphant at the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open, and 2016 US Open.

With Wawrinka officially retiring from tennis earlier this week, Norman’s services have now been requested by Sinner, with the Italian already a world No 1 and a multiple-time Grand Slam champion.

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And Clijsters, herself a former world No 1 and four-time Grand Slam singles champion, believes that Sinner has made a wise choice.

“Magnus Norman, I was very young when I came on tour and I was around him a little bit from a distance,” said Clijsters, speaking on the Love All Podcast.

“[He’s] Very down to earth, kind, but very focused, disciplined, just humble, hardworking, just the type of person you want to have on your team, like he’s all in for you.

“His tennis brain is great. It’s not like I followed his tennis results on a weekly basis, but just to be around him and see how he would speak in press conferences, the way that he would work with Stan Wawrinka, he built a tennis academy called ‘Good to Great’.

“Like he’s doing a lot in the tennis world. I used to have conversations with him about his triathlons that he was doing and him still training as a professional athlete even though he was coaching a professional athlete.

“So, for some reason this feels very, very good this partnership and it was going to be very, very hard to fill Darren Cahill’s shoes, but I think this was a very, very good and a very smart pick.”

Norman’s upcoming partnership with Sinner will debut at the start of the 2027 ATP Tour season, with the Italian not defending either of his Paris Masters or ATP Finals titles this November due to injury.

The Italian won five Masters 1000 titles at the start of the 2026 season and then successfully defended his title at Wimbledon in July, claiming his fifth major.

However, Sinner has been sidelined since his victory at the All England Club due to a knee injury, and as a result will lose his world No 1 ranking to Alexander Zverev on Monday.

The 25-year-old is likely to return to action at the Australian Open, having traditionally not competed at warm-up events before the opening major tournament of the season in recent years.

Sinner is a two-time champion in Melbourne, lifting the title in 2024 and 2025, and was a semi-finalist at the event in 2026.