Jannik Sinner opened his Grand Slam palmares yesterday at the Australian Open. The young Italian, who pushed aside title holder and number 1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, corrected a lopsided situation in the final against Daniil Medvedev. How does tennis expert Dominique Monami assess Sinner and his triumph?
Jannik Sinner himself remained modest about his Australian success. Here and there in the media, the sympathetic youngster is called a ruthless killer. “But I don’t agree with that,” opens Monami, a former top 10 player and good for Olympic bronze.
“On the contrary, he has received good values from his parents. Sinner has a lot of respect for his opponent. On the other hand, he also has a huge winning mentality. Of course he is going to play to win. I think Killer is exaggerated.”
Sinner is a new name for the general public, but not for those who follow tennis closely: “He has climbed very quickly to the top 10,” says Monami. “In 2018 he did not yet have a ranking. Two years later he was already among the best. Last year he confirmed his status as a very talented player and now even more so.”
Alcaraz and Sinner are the young guys we needed to take over the torch.
Dominique Monami
A new name next to the seniors Djokovic and Nadal is nice: “Absolutely. Together with Alcaraz, Sinner is a young guy who we needed to take over the torch.”
“These two also have a very good personality. They are very authentic and down-to-earth. They also owe a lot to their trainer. They pass on the right values and have developed the right mentality.”
“I suspect we will see and hear a lot more from those two players. They both have a lot of respect for each other.”
“Very good serve, aggressive from the baseline and lots of variation”
Monami outlines Sinner’s assets: “He is a very complete player. He has a very good serve, which we saw in the semi-finals against Djokovic. His percentage of first serves was impressive. That makes it very difficult for the opponent.”
“He is also aggressive from the baseline and shows a lot of variation, including with the drop shot he shows his good insight.”
“Mentally he has grown enormously. If I compare that with 2 to 3 years ago, when he still had difficulty getting over his opponent at important moments. That mental click – that he can win against the best – was not yet present. “
“Last year he won against Djokovic for the first time in the group stage of the ATP Finals. That will have given his self-confidence an enormous boost.”
Related:
