Has Jannik Sinner fixed his big problem as he looks to catch up with Carlos Alcaraz?
Jannik Sinner identified one big problem after his US Open final defeat against Carlos Alcaraz last month and it appears he is already on his way to finding a fix.
World No 2 Sinner admitted his serve was not where it needed to be as he was beaten by Alcaraz in New York and he made no secret of his desire to solve the problem in his post-match interviews.
Sinner went as far as to suggest he would be prepared to lose some matches as he experimented with new techniques raising plenty of eyebrows.
“I can say that I’m gonna become a better tennis player and I’m gonna change a couple of things on the serve, just small things, but, they can make big differences and then we see how it goes,” said Sinner.
“I’m looking forward to play these matches again, something new is now that I’m not No 1 anymore. Now you chase, it’s different.
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“Maybe I will lose some matches from now on, but I will try 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’s win at the China Open in Beijing earlier this month gave the tennis world a glimpse of a modified service action and he took that serving performance to the next level with a polished display in his 6-4, 6-2 win against Novak Djokovic at the Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Saudi Arabia.
Sinner revamped his serve mid-way through the 2023 season and the improved power and accuracy in the shot was viewed as one of the big reasons why the Italian took his game to the next level and won four Grand Slam titles over the last two years.
Yet statistics this season suggest that the potent serve has not been operating as he would have wanted.
Sinner’s first serve percentage over the last 52 weeks on the ATP Tour is at 60.5 per-cent, with that figure leaving his down in 61st position in the rankings for that shot.
Alexander Zverev is top of the list with a first serve percentage of 71.5, with shock Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot in seventh place in the list with a successful first serve percentage of 67.2.
Carlos Alcaraz is down in 26th place with a first serve percentage of 64.2, but these numbers change when we look at the percentage of first serve points won.
Taylor Fritz is top of the list in these statistics, with Sinner in fourth position, Novak Djokovic in tenth place and Alcaraz down in 28th place.
When it comes to second serve points won, Sinner tops that list ahead of Alcaraz in second place, with Alex de Minaur in third spot, ahead of Ben Shelton in fourth and Djokovic in fifth.
