Jannik Sinner ‘the favourite against any opponent’ and backed to ‘win everything from now on’ by tennis great
Jannik Sinner “is only going to get better” with tennis legend Mats Wilander suggesting he is now the favourite against any opponent on any surface.
The 23-year-old capped off the Grand Slam season the way he started it as he followed up his Australian Open title at the beginning of the 2024 tennis season with the US Open trophy.
Sinner defeated first-time finalist Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to capture his second major trophy and in the process strengthened his stranglehold on the world No 1 ranking.
The Italian arrived in New York under a bit of a cloud as he made headlines after he failed two doping tests in March, but was allowed to continue playing. He has been cleared of any wrongdoing, but the way he handled the on and off-court pressure has been applauded by former world No 1 Mats Wilander.
“This means so much to him and he works so hard. It’s coming pretty quickly now after winning the Australian Open and got number one in the world but at the same time, I feel like he’s taken his time,” the Swede told Eurosport.
“The steps of improvement are obvious but it’s not so obvious that we think he will win everything from now on.
“He is so solid, so good, he’s great on big points. I think it was a sigh of relief after everything at the end considering how he started the tournament amidst the doping thing but everyone has forgotten about that now of course. Taylor Fritz was really disappointing as I think he had a chance to win but it was not really close.”
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Sinner has been at the top of the ATP Rankings since June and he is the firm favourite to finish as the year-end No 1 as he now has a 2,885-point lead Alexander Zverev in second place.
On top of winning two majors and sitting at No 1 in the rankings, Sinner has also beaten all comers this year as he has wins over 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic, reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz as well as the likes of Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev.
Wilander feels Sinner is now the favourite against his big rivals.
The seven-time Grand Slam winner added: “There are a few big tournaments for Sinner to retain his world No 1 ranking but he will also be looking at the Australian Open again. It’s just a solid two weeks. His first match against Makenzie McDonald was the only question mark we had. I think he knew this was going to happen if he kept doing what we knew he could do.
“He can play any opponent on any surface and we think Sinner is the favourite at the moment at this stage of his career and he is only going to get better. He is only 23 and didn’t play as much as a junior which means he is so fresh.
“His popularity will continue to grow because he is so humble as a sportsperson.”
