Tyra Caterina Grant grew up playing and living at the same tennis academy in northern Italy that Jannik Sinner attended before he went on to become No. 1. So perhaps it feels natural that the 17-year-old Grant, a three-time junior Grand Slam doubles champion, will try to follow in Sinner’s footsteps again after announcing that she has switched nationalities from the US and will represent Italy for her promising professional career. Grant’s father is American basketball player Tyrone Grant, who spent most of his pro career in Italy. Her Italian mother, Cinzia Giovinco, taught her to play tennis. She grew up in Vigevano, a town near Milan, and can switch between fluent Italian and English from one sentence to the next. “I switched to Italy because I feel mostly Italian even though I’m half and half,” Grant said upon arriving in Rome, where she’s been given a wild card to play the Italian Open. “I’m more connected to the Italian part because I was born here and I grew up here and my friends are here. I feel more connected to the Italian culture and I feel more at home here.” Grant and Sinner: Grant trained at Riccardo Piatti’s academy in Bordighera from age seven to 14 before she moved to Orlando, Florida. Sinner, who is 6½ years older than Grant, was already one of Piatti’s star pupils when she arrived. “Growing up with Jannik was great,” Grant said. “He was I think around 14 when we first met and I was a little younger so obviously it was kind of an age gap, but in Bordighera we were all just like a big family so it was lovely.” Coco Gauff sees Grant’s potential: While Grant is ranked No. 335 by the WTA Tour, she is No. 6 in the International Tennis Federation’s junior rankings. Grant also reached the semifinals of the junior singles tournament at last year’s French Open; and got to the semifinals of the senior mixed doubles competition at the US Open with American partner Aleksandar Kovacevic. Grant and Kovacevic were beaten by eventual champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori of Italy. Coco Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, got to know Grant a bit when she was among the juniors brought in to practice with the US national team. “I’ve actually never watched her play,” Gauff said. “Based off the results, what I see her doing in juniors, obviously she has a lot of potential. I just never sat there and watched a match. I will now that she’s playing on the same level. I’ll try to get ready.