Jannik Sinner is an aggressive baseliner that likes to hit the ball incredibly heavily and absorb his opponent’s pressure. He is a slim build and is an incredibly effective mover. Sinner likes to take the ball on and strike it aggressively, as he is able to take massive cuts at the ball using his long levers. However, he doesn’t like to take unnecessary risks, as he can build points intelligently.
Sinner statistically has the heaviest backhand on tour. Whilst this may seem surprising considering how many great backhands there are on tour at the moment, you just have to listen to the way he cracks the ball and this fact becomes believable.
Sinner has been touted as one of the NextGen players by the ATP, as he has risen up the rankings at quite a pace. His combination of aggressive hitting and exceptional movement makes him dangerous if an opponent leaves any ball short but also makes him very difficult to hit through. Sinner is particularly good at hissing passing shots on the run, as he has a good range of motions and flexibility, reminiscent of Novak Djokovic.
Sinner’s forehand is a real weapon that can be flattened out to rush his opponents. He particularly likes to hit it hard cross court when he is defending, so his opponent is immediately on the back foot. He turns a defensive position into an attacking one and can pounce on a weaker reply straight away.
But it is Sinner’s backhand that stands out from the crowd. It has more topspin than any other on the ATP tour and this means the ball kicks up and pushes the opponent off balance. Sinner uses a lot of wrist to hit his backhand. He keeps his wrists and hands very loose which allows him to whip up the back of the ball very freely. Perhaps one criticism of Sinner’s technique is that he hits a lot of ground strokes using the open stance. Whilst he is a huge ball striker, this will limit his power outputs slightly as he is not able to complete a full unit turn using his legs and hips from this position. However, this is a very minor point that is also a consequence of him being able to make so many balls on the run, so he will have to use this stance to simply get the ball back in play. If he is able to give himself a bit more time on the ball and attack his shots using a semi open stance, he could become an even bigger hitter than he already is.
He is equally dangerous from both wings, as Sinner can quite happily let it rip on the backhand side and thump the ball up the line or create insane angles cross court. Roger Federer has commented on Sinner, mentioning that he has equal firepower on both sides. The young Italian has also been compared to the great man for his calm and collected on court attitude. He never seems to get rattled when things aren’t going his way, but can also hit unbelievable shots and he doesn’t get ahead of himself. He is a very focussed player that simply gets on with the job in hand and walks around the court with a quiet confidence about him.
Sinner has a big serve and is comfortable up at the net (although this is not his favourite area of the court). His main comfort zone is sliding around the baseline and looking for opportunities to take it to his opponents with his huge forehand and backhand.
Jannik Sinner was born in San Candido, Italy which is a German speaking region. He speaks Italian, German, English and he is a very keen skier. So keen in fact that he was a skiing champion between the ages of 8 and 12 years old, which he attributes his ankle, knee and hip flexibility to.
Sinner is a Roger Federer fan and you can see this reflected in his attitude on the court. He loves AC Milan and actually preferred playing football to tennis as a teenager. He credits his long term coach Riccardo Piatti for getting him into tennis and developing him as a player. He very recently split with Piatti and the rest of his coaching team in a controversial move. He clearly wants to shake things up to move forward in his career and opted for Simone Vagnozzi to replace his entire coaching team. Time will tell whether this will be a successful move or not.
The powerful Italian is a great young prospect that can definitely do great things in the game. He burst onto the scene by winning the ATP NextGen finals in 2019 and has gone from strength to strength from there. Given that at just 20 years old he has already reached the quarter finals of both the Australian Open and French Open, he is well on his way to being a regular member of the world’s top 10.
He seems to have struggled slightly on the faster surfaces of Wimbledon and the US Open, but his big backswings could be partially to blame for that. He has an ice cool demeanor on court and is an example for many young, aspiring tennis players to emulate.
Sinner can beat any of the world’s best players and can hit winners from anywhere in the court. His aggressive counter punching style is a staple of the modern game and he has a bit more punch in his shots than other young players like Danil Medvedev and Lorenzo Musetti.
Sinner is one of the most promising young players that has come onto the tennis scene in recent years. He has backed up his potential with big results and it can be easy to forget just how young he is at times.
Some of his career highlights so far include winning the NextGen finals in 2019 as the youngest player in the tournament, being the first ever teenager to win an ATP 500 title and reaching the final of the Masters 1000 event in Miami.
Sinner is the type of player that could definitely go on to win many grand slams in the future. He has a combination of great attributes that come together in a pretty unique package. He has insane firepower that can be used to hurt his opponents from anywhere in the court, both on the forehand and backhand side. This reminds me of Stan Wawrinka’s power! He also has incredible movement and his flexibility is very similar to that of the great Novak Djokovic, meaning he can slide around the court and always remains strong even in fully stretched positions. His poise and composure also resembles that of Roger Federer, so is definitely following in the right footsteps!
He is a raw talent that still needs some refining, as he could improve the efficiency of his movement, his touch around the net and be a little more aggressive with his tactics. That is actually why his future is so exciting. He has achieved so much already and is still so young, plus there are a few clear things that he can improve on to make him even more of a dominant force on the biggest of stages!
Sinner is a model professional that carries himself with grace and calmness. He is a very focussed player that doesn’t let his emotions get the better of him. He is not emotionless by any means, but he only seems to show positive emotions and intensity on the court, which make him a great role model to follow. Sinner is also a very mature player for his age. The fact that he has completely replaced his entire coaching team despite already doing so well at such a young age, shows that he is determined to reach the top and very sure of himself.
Sinner is a no nonsense type of player that will not throw tantrums or disrespect his opponents. He is too preoccupied with improving his tennis and reaching the top of the game. Therefore, whilst he is not the most flamboyant player with the most colourful personality, he can definitely be commended and respected for his attitude, work ethic and how grounded he is.
