The dramatic rise of Jannik Sinner, the mild-mannered Italian on the path to greatness
Having won eight titles in 2024, including two Grand Slams and becoming the World No. 1, Jannik Sinner is on course for tennis greatness.
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Jannik Sinner (Image via X)
A few years back, with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic in the final years of their jaw-dropping, record-shattering era, the one question on everyone’s mind was — what’s next for men’s tennis after this?
The Big 3 had achieved it all, multiple times, and spoiled fans rotten. Many wondered if there would ever be another rivalry of similar levels on the ATP Tour. In 2022, Carlos Alcaraz showed that there’s life beyond the legendary trio.
At the Madrid Open, Alcaraz defeated Nadal, Djokovic, and Alexander Zverev en route to the title. A few weeks later, at the US Open, he clinched his maiden Grand Slam title in style.
That saw him become the youngest man (19 years, 4 months, and 6 days) and the first male teenager in the Open Era to top the singles rankings. He then finished as the youngest year-end No. 1 in ATP history.
And there we had it, the next big superstar of the sport, ready to come out of the shadows and make his mark. But one question remained. Who will challenge him and push him to achieve greatness?
Enter Jannik Sinner
Last year, Jannik Sinner clinched his maiden Masters 1000 title at the Canadian Open. He finished as the runner-up at the ATP Finals and also led Italy to the Davis Cup title.
At the Grand Slams, however, he barely made an impact, besides a semifinal finish at the Wimbledon Championships. Carlos Alcaraz on the other hand, had two Majors and two runner-up finishes by the end of 2023.
If there were any doubts about Sinner’s abilities on the biggest stages, he did not take long to address them this year. With some much-needed rest, he arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open, hungry for success.
The Italian dropped just one set en route to the semifinals, where he made light work of the mighty Novak Djokovic to reach the final. And if there were still any doubts about his mentality, he showed exactly what he was capable of in the final.
After going down to sets to Daniil Medvedev, Sinner rallied strong and launched a comeback that ended with his maiden Grand Slam title. The 23-year-old, who ended Djokovic’s 33-match winning streak Down Under, became the first Italian to win the Australian Open and the second Italian man in the Open Era to win a singles Major.
And that was just a taste of what was to come in the months ahead.
Milestones crossed and records tumbled
At the Rotterdam Open, Jannik Sinner became the first player born in the 2000s to register 200 wins on the tennis circuit. He clinched the title to rise to third in the ATP rankings. A milestone for him, and a record in the larger context, as it made him the highest-ranked Italian player ever.
Sinner won a total of eight titles in 2024, including the US Open and ATP Finals. And for good measure, he helped Italy defend its David Cup title, making him the first player in history to win two Grand Slams, the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup in the same season.
The South Tyrol native won a whopping 73 matches this year, the most by any player. Those were won with a staggering 92.41% success rate. Such was the nature of his dominance that he holds a massive 3915-point lead over second-placed Alexander Zverev in the ATP rankings.
While there’s very little the Big 3 have not achieved, emulating them is a task in itself. But Sinner showed that at his best, he can be as good as anyone.
On hard courts, he enjoyed the third-best season (94.6%-win rate) in tennis history, with only Roger Federer’s 2005 (98%) and 2006 (96.7%) campaigns marginally better than his. Overall, Sinner did not lose a single match in straight sets, making him the first man since Federer (2005) to do so.
94.6% – Since 1990, only Roger Federer in 2005 (98.0%) and in 2006 (96.7%) had a higher winner percentage on hard court than Jannik Sinner in 2024 in a single year (94.6%, equalling Andre Agassi in 1995). Mind-blowing.#Sinner | @atptour pic.twitter.com/4EDKBjG9IA
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) November 25, 2024
Subtle but powerful tweaks
For any athlete at the highest echelons of any sport, there isn’t a lot of room for improvement. That isn’t to say that there is none, and Jannik Sinner is proof of that.
Putting all the physical aspects aside, any top-level tennis player needs the right mentality to continuously stay at the top. If Sinner ever had doubts about his abilities, they were almost wiped away in his two wins against Novak Djokovic at the back end of last year.
It gave him the confidence to enter 2025 in the right headspace, and it was on display at the Australian Open. When he faced the Serbian in the semifinals, the youngster took control of the proceedings, dictated the pace of the contest, and gave his acclaimed opponent zero chance of winning the contest.
To do so against Djokovic is a huge deal, and to do so against him on the hard courts of Melbourne? That’s the kind of ‘coming of age’ stuff that gets keen observers of the sport giddy with joy.
7⃣3⃣ wins
— Eurosport (@eurosport) November 25, 2024
6⃣ losses
2024 is the year of Jannik Sinner😳 pic.twitter.com/D8md0ZxeML
And then there was the doping saga, one that has been well extensively discussed and dissected by anyone and everyone. Sinner fought the charges, got himself declared innocent, saw that ruling challenged, and is now awaiting a final judgment on that issue.
And while all that was going on, he did not drop his performances and kept winning, if only to show people that he could remain calm and focused even when everything and everyone around him was consumed by other things.
Then there’s the on-court improvement. His serve, which was by no means a weakness, has been finetuned to become a potent weapon. With the aid of his coach Darren Cahill, Sinner worked on changing his starting position while serving.
He went from serving with his back foot flat on the ground to keeping his back heel elevated during the motion. This meant that he got more height on his serves, giving him a better chance of winning points.
All of that has also resulted in Sinner striking the ball a lot harder. It even sounds different from when other players strike the ball, as his compatriot Andrea Vavassori explained.
For sure you could see when you heard the sound of the ball, the explosion, I think you could understand that he was different from others. The sound when he plays forehands and backhands is different from the other players.
Andrea Vavassori said (via tennis.com)
Such has been the level of his improvement that there are no discernable weaknesses in his game. Hubert Hurkacz’s former coach Craig Boynton explained why Sinner makes for a tough opponent.
Playing Jannik, a lot really depends upon what assets you can deploy against [Sinner] (a big serve, a heavy slice, spin, etc.) But you have to wonder if those assets will even make an impact. There’s no one obvious place you can go to get relief (take advantage of a weakness) when you play Jannik.
Craig Boynton said (via tennis.com)
Sinner has, obviously, taken his game to a different level this year. It has fans excited and his countrymen even predicting his path to GOAT status. Italian tennis great Adriano Panatta believes Sinner has ‘invented a new game’ and even the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic seem ‘outdated’ in comparison.
Is that a bit hyperbolic? For now, it is. There’s a lot of work to be done before anyone, including Sinner, can start putting themselves in the same discussion as the Big 3.
But if anyone can work towards turning such farfetched ideas into reality, it is Sinner.
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Anirudh Velamuri
(58 Articles Published)