Jannik Sinner: The Turnaround Artist

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN a crying shame if Italy’s Jannik Sinner, in the form of his young life, had not won the Australian Open. Especially so after having disposed of the greatest of all time and 10-time Australian Open champion, Novak Djokovic, in the semifinal, a stage at which the Serb had never previously lost before in Melbourne. Yet, the 22-year-old Sinner was in the final, two sets to love down to the master strategist in Daniil Medvedev and teetering on the very edge of defeat.

But here is the thing about the youngest generation of tennis players that seem to be changing the landscape of the game at a breakneck pace: they just don’t throw in the towel at any stage of the contest, a trait they share with the old greats (the Djokovics and Rafael Nadals of this world) that are well on their way out due to age. So, Sinner simply injected more power to his strokes, played with higher risk, now outhitting and outthinking a tiring Medvedev. And four brutal hours after it began, the Italian became only the second man not named Djokovic, Nadal or Federer to win the Australian Open in 19 years (the other being Stan Wawrinka a decade ago).

Great things were expected from Sinner right from when he showed promise as a teen, further heightening those expectations by winning the NextGen Finals as an 18-year-old in 2019. But the leap from juniors to seniors seemed to get the better of him, with a string of early-round exits from Grand Slams in 2020 and 2021. Sinner, though, was quick to take matters into his own hands and make drastic changes to his game and support staff. Most child prodigies are averse to making alterations to what has worked thus far for them. Not Sinner, who parted ways with his childhood coach, Riccardo Piatti, to begin the 2022 season and brought on Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, the latter a certified maker of champions.

Instantly, there were results. Sinner made three out of the four Grand Slam quarterfinals in 2022, but the last of those, in the US Open, would’ve hurt. The Italian had a match point against Carlos Alcaraz, all of 19 himself. But the teenage Spaniard not only managed to turn the match against Sinner around from the precipice of defeat, he also went on to win that Grand Slam and simultaneously become the youngest-ever world number one in the game. Sinner trudged back to the drawing board and emerged even stronger in 2023, making his first Grand Slam semifinal appearance at Wimbledon, losing to Djokovic, who in turn lost to Alcaraz. With two majors to his name by the age of 20, Alcaraz had well and truly lived up to his hype. The only question that remained was if he could have a worthy rival in Sinner.

The answer was a resounding yes, with Sinner sweeping up all his competition and becoming the clear breakaway star late last year. He won the titles in Beijing and Vienna, made the year-end Masters final, before defeating Djokovic twice in the same day (one of them in doubles) in the semifinals of the Davis Cup, which Sinner and Italy went on to win against Australia to end 2023. This success for his country had strong echoes of Djokovic orchestrating Serbia’s Davis Cup triumph in 2010, a run that reignited his belief in himself for the next season, where he went on to win the first major of the year, the 2011 Australian Open, and never looked back since.

Sinner’s title in Melbourne might just be an even greater feat than Djokovic’s in 2011, given the levels of difficulties the Italian had to pass. Not only did he have to do the impossible by beating Djokovic in his second home that is the Rod Laver Arena, Sinner did not once panic after having dropped the first two sets in his very first Grand Slam final. “I like to dance in the pressure storm,” Sinner said after the miraculous turnaround, trophy under his arm. “Under pressure is where, most of the time, I bring out my best tennis. I’m also quite relaxed in this kind of occasion. I think pressure is a privilege, to be honest.”

It is, in fact, tennis’ privilege to usher Sinner into the new era of future greats.

About The Author

Aditya Iyer

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