Jannik Sinner echoed the sentiments of Novak Djokovic as he made a brutally honest US Open confession
It was after a defeat against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon that the word ‘predictable’ was thrown in Jannik Sinner’s direction and he didn’t hesitate to raise the issue himself after his defeat against Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open final.
Djokovic offered up some words of advice to Sinner via his coach Darren Cahill after that loss on grass courts at the All England Club, with the Italian urged to add more layers to his game by the most successful make tennis player of all time.
“One of the players that I tapped on the shoulder — he (Sinner) lost to Novak a couple of years ago at Wimbledon in five sets. Won the first two sets, Novak came back and ran away with it,” explained the Australian, in an appearance on the Served podcast.
“Novak got used to his ball, got used to the shape, got used to the pace and then just locked in, like Novak does, and doesn’t miss. And won the last three sets reasonably easily.
“And I saw Novak, and he’s always great with this, he’s always been incredible when you tap him on the shoulder. And I said, ‘Hey listen, I’ve just started with Jannik, don’t tell me anything you don’t want to tell me, but can I ask what you were feeling out there?’ And he was incredible.
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“He basically said, ‘Hey listen. Good luck with working with him. Hits the ball great, but there’s no variation. So you know, there’s no shape on his shot. There’s no height over the net. Doesn’t come to the net. He’s not trying to bring me in, I know that he returns well, but he’s not attacking my serve on the return of serve.
“So he went through his whole game and broke it down. It wasn’t like it was revelations to what we didn’t know about Jannik and what we were trying to change in his game.
“But when you take that conversation and sit down with a young man like Jannik Sinner and say,’ Hey, listen, I just spoke to Novak and this is what he thinks’, that leaves a big impression on a young player. So for Jannik it’s: ‘Right, give it to me. Let’s start doing these changes’.”
The changes Sinner and his team made have had a spectacular impact, with Sinner sweeping up four Grand Slam titles over the last couple of years and rising to No 1 in the ATP Rankings, but Sunday’s US Open final defeat against Alcaraz left the impression that the tide has turned in their battle.
Alcaraz admitted he needed to make improvements after he lost against Sinner and Wimbledon and now the Italian is in the role of the chaser, as he looks up at new world No 1 Alcaraz and plots a way to knock him off his perch.
“I was very predictable today,” conceded Sinner. “He did many things, he changed up the game. That’s also his style of how he plays now it’s gonna be on me if I want to make changes or not, you know, so that’s definitely, we are gonna work on that. Trying to be more prepared for the next match, what I will play against him.
“It also, I feel like, depends how you arrive to play against Carlos. You know, one thing is when the scoreline matches before it’s comfortable. But you always do the same things, you know, like I did, for example, during this tournament.
“I didn’t make one volley, you know, I didn’t use a lot of drop shots. And then you arrive to a point where you play against Carlos when, where you have to go out of the comfort zone so I’m gonna aim to, you know, maybe even losing some matches from now on, but trying to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player and because I think that’s what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player.”
Sinner has often spoken about his desire to improve his net play and he also hinted he would need to add more consistency to his first serve, after a match when his first serves, in particular, misfired.
The calm and composed Sinner did not look like a man panicking after his chastening defeat against Alcaraz, but he knows nothing but his A-game will do when he faces his biggest rival.
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