Jannik Sinner’s victory over Carlos Alcaraz at this week’s China Open caused quite a stir, and not only because it marked his fourth success in seven meetings with the Spaniard. The win also confirmed Sinner’s rise to a career-high ranking of fourth, hauling him level with Adriano Panatta and Francesca Schiavone as the highest-ranked Italian in history. Predictably, the unassuming Sinner, exciting but never excitable, did not get carried away.
“I know the history, but going beyond the results of others doesn’t tell me anything,” he told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. “I’m not interested in comparisons with the past, I want to become strong, the challenge is with myself. We’ll see how much beyond my limits I will be able to push myself.”
Sinner’s willingness to test those boundaries was front and centre in Beijing. The Italian overcame a leg injury to win his opener against Dan Evans in three sets, battled past Grigor Dimitrov while suffering from suspected food poisoning, and recovered from an inauspicious start to beat Alcaraz in straight sets. Then, in the final, Sinner got the better of Daniil Medvedev for the first time in seven meetings, prevailing 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2) to claim his second title in two months.
It was an outstanding display of mental and physical resilience, an achievement perhaps even more impressive than Sinner’s maiden Masters 1000 win in Toronto, given the strength of the field. His star has been rising steadily since Wimbledon, where he reached the first grand slam semi-final of his career, and while it is generally unwise to read too much significance into results at the tail-end of the season – lest we forget, Felix Auger-Aliassime was carrying all before him this time last year – there is good reason to believe that Sinner could be the exception that proves the rule.
In contrast with Alcaraz, the other half of a double act that has rapidly become one of the hottest tickets in tennis, Sinner’s journey has been one of incremental progress rather than meteoric success. It has taken time for his rangy physique to catch up with his weighty shot-making, just as it has taken time to acquire the mental toughness that turns an outstanding ball-striker into a champion. Yet at 22 years old, time is a commodity Sinner has in abundance.
The Italian’s performance against Medvedev offered a reminder of his tireless commitment to improvement, a quality perhaps never been more evident than when he made the decision to part ways with his childhood mentor Riccardo Piatti following last year’s Australian Open. Since forging a new coaching partnership with Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, Sinner has made strides in every area of the game – as Medvedev discovered to his cost.
Asked beforehand how he planned to improve his record against the Russian, Sinner spoke of the importance of serving well and switching things up tactically. That he was able to make good on those ambitions speaks volumes for the work he has done with Vagnozzi and Cahill. When the pair played in Miami earlier this year, Medvedev’s path to a 7-5, 6-3 victory was eased by poor serving from Sinner, who made just 56% of his first deliveries and won a paltry 32% of second serve points. Clearly the lessons were heeded. In Beijing, Sinner landed just over two-thirds of his first serves and was rewarded with an 82% success rate. He also won 71% of the points on his second delivery.
It is testimony to Sinner’s innate talent that he has been able to make such gains despite the various technical changes he has made to his service motion over the years, most notably in twice switching from a platform stance (feet apart) to a pinpoint motion (where the back foot is brought up to the front). Under Vagnozzi, Sinner has reverted to a modified version of his previous pinpoint action, the right foot coming forward in a smoother, less deliberate motion in which the feet do not quite come all the way together. He has also experimented with the rhythm of his service motion and the ball toss. None of those changes are sweeping, yet even small alterations can unravel under pressure. Clearly good decisions have been made.
Technically more proficient, Sinner’s serving was also underpinned by clearer tactical thinking. Medvedev’s deep return position has established a tactical template for opponents: serve wide, close down the net quickly, and exploit the angles. Alcaraz successfully utilised the tactic in his semi-final win over the Russian at Wimbledon and Novak Djokovic followed suit in the US Open final, peppering the deuce side with wide serves before directing his volleys into the open court. Sinner adopted a similar strategy in Beijing, directing 60% of his serves wide to the deuce court, and approaching the net 33 times overall, with a success rate of 70%. The contrast with Miami, where he came in only 17 times and directed less than half of his deuce-court serves wide, is again instructive.
Sinner faced just one break point in the entire match, yet it came at a potentially critical juncture, in the fifth game of the opening set. Had Medvedev pulled away at that moment, the scale of the challenge facing Sinner would have grown significantly. Instead, a precise 120mph T-serve elicited a weak reply, and the Italian then rode his luck as Medvedev, who anticipated the direction of his attempted placement, sliced a forehand fractionally wide. Fittingly, given that it was Sinner’s enterprise that provided the platform for victory, it was a case of fortune favouring the bold.
“I lost many times against him,” said Sinner, who will now face Marcos Giron in the opening round of the Shanghai Masters. “I changed a couple of things, tactical things, which were working very well at some points, but this is all part of the process and the practice sessions we have done.
“We try to analyse a couple of things after the match and make the same things happen in practice. This is part of the work we are putting in, and you have to show this in a match.”
Should the seedings hold in Shanghai, where he is projected to meet Medvedev again in the quarter-finals, Sinner will soon have another opportunity to demonstrate the fruits of those practice court labours. Just don’t expect him to get carried away.