Jannik Sinner has already established himself as one of the world’s top players but he admits there is still plenty of room for improvement.
The 21-year-old is ranked 11th in the world rankings and is the third-youngest player in the ATP top 20 after Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune. So far in his career, he has reached the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments, won seven Tour titles and recorded 11 victories over top-10 players. This season he has reached the last eight or better in five out of seven tournaments played and has a perfect 14-0 winning record against players ranked outside the top 50.
Sinner’s latest strong run has been at this week’s Miami Open where he secured his place in the semi-finals on Wednesday by defeating Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3, 6-1. One particularly impressive stat from his latest match concerns the Italian’s serving. He won 95% (21/22) of his first service points and only faced one break point which he successfully saved. Speaking afterwards, Sinner said it is an area of his game that he continues to work on.
”I think we (his team) have improved a lot the serve. I still have days where I struggle a little bit more. I have days where I serve very well,” he said.
“I felt like against Andrey (Rublev) I served well in the round before. But also (against Ruusuvuori) I served good. Especially in the important moments when he had a breakpoint, I served well there.’
“But still there is a lot of work to do. We tried to find the right motion, the right toss and the right tempo. Not serve every ball in the same motion and then changing the ball a little bit.”
Sinner is the first to admit there are still areas in his game that he needs to improve to reach the very top of men’s tennis or win a Grand Slam title. He is currently coached on the Tour by Darren Cahill who was the former mentor of Simona Halep, Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt. The two began working together last summer after Sinner ended his collaboration with Riccardo Piatti.
“I feel like I can serve much better. Physically I can get stronger. Also my forehand and backhand,” he replied when asked what he would like to improve.
“I’m trying to go more to the net because I am already doing a lot of this in my practice sessions but I have to do it also in matches.”
So how good can Sinner become in the future? According to his coach Cahill, he has what it takes to become world No.1. Something which has never been achieved by an Italian player on the ATP Tour in the Open Era.
“Jannik has everything to become No 1 in the world. Before my arrival he was already a great player, among the top 10 in the rankings: he has incredible weapons and was well trained,” Cahill told La Repubblica.
“Now we need to watch his matches against the best tennis players around and understand what’s keeping him from beating them. Then work on it. It definitely takes time, a couple of years and many match situations.”
In Miami, Sinner will face either Alcaraz or Taylor Fritz for a place in the final. He trails the Spaniard 2-3 in their head-to-head but is yet to play against Fritz on the Tour.
