Italy’s Jannik Sinner is a ‘big, big deal’ and has the ability to scale the top of men’s tennis, according to Andy Roddick.
The 38-year-old American, who won 32 ATP titles during his career, has praised the Next Generation star after what was a breakthrough year for him. During 2020 sinner elevated up the rankings from 78th to 36th after achieving a series of milestones in his young career. At the French Open he became the first male player since Rafael Nadal in 2005 to reach the quarter-finals on their debut. A couple months later he won his first ATP trophy at the Sofia Open to become the youngest player to do so in 12 years.
Due to his rapid rise in the sport, many have tipped the Italian to be the next star of the men’s game. Sinner is currently the only player aged 19 or younger ranked in the world’s top 100.
Speaking about the 19-year-old on The Tennis Channel, Roddick has drawn parallels between him and Sweden’s Robin Soderling. A former top five star who is best known as being one of only two people to have ever defeated Nadal at the French Open.
“He can create the amount of speed and pace off his both wings,” Roddick said. “He has knockout power on both sides with half the body. Once he grows into himself and gets out of the awkward, lanky phase (he will get better). He reminds me of a Robin Soderling type player but may move slightly better. This guy’s a big, big deal.”
With a trio of top 10 wins already under his belt, Sinner appears to be on the right trajectory. Although Roddick believes he needs to further improve his physicality in order to progress more. Making reference to the US Open where Sinner lost his first round match against Karen Khachanov after having a two-set lead. That is so far the only time he has played a five-set match on the Tour.
“I mean the only downside that I have seen from the last year is that – I’ll use his match from the USO against Karen Khachanov to make this point,” Roddick explains. “He was a better player, he was hitting a bigger ball than someone who is kind of a physical specimen but his body just gave up.”
As to how much of a star Sinner can become remains to be seen but the expectations are high. In Roddick’s view one of the most impressive things have been his ability to win matches in relation to his expectations.
“When you see people go on to win Slams later in their career, they are winning tournaments at 18 or 19 years old,” he said. “We’re not celebrating like individual wins, winning in your backyard in Milan on a fast surface. Going to battle and making your first Grand Slam quarterfinal on a slow clay court surface in Paris last year at Roland Garros, that shows a lot. The biggest thing for me, he goes out and wins matches that he’s expected to win, that’s how you make a career.”
Sinner was originally down to play in this week’s Antalya Open in Turkey but later withdrew in order to focus on the upcoming Australian swing. He will be flying to the country in the coming days and is expected to start his season at the Melbourne 1 tournament.
