Tim Henman hands Jannik Sinner the ultimate compliment as he reveals ‘biggest improvement’
Jannik Sinner emerged from a tough defeat in the US Open final against Carlos Alcaraz in September with a confession that he needed to improve his serve to match his biggest rival and the upgrades he has made to that shot since then have been startling.
“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 after the US Open defeat.
“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 appeared to make a tweak to his service action as he reached a little for the ball in the events after that defeat against Alcaraz in New York and he has been almost impossible to beat since then.
His wins in ATP 500 events in Beijing and Vienna were backed up by at dominant win at the Paris Masters and now he is storming through his matches at the ATP Finals in clinical fashion.
While every aspect of his game looks flawless, his serve has moved through the gears in recent weeks and Sinner believes it is firing on all cylinders.
“I felt like last year also at the end of the year I was serving much much better than throughout the year. This year has also been similar,” said Sinner.
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“I hope we will work a lot in the preseason to be ready for next season. Hopefully I can serve like this throughout the season. Making the serve as stable as possible.
“It has worked very very well. Especially in this tournament. Staying indoors helps you. It gives you a huge hand to be more confident. Very happy about the work we are doing. Let’s see what’s coming.”
Former British No 1 Tim Henman served up lavish praise for Sinner as he was asked to reflect on his serving improvement, as he compared him to some of the all-time greats of the game.
Sinner made it through his first four matches at the ATP Finals without dropping serve and Henman believes his most improved weapon could now be compared so some of the game’s greats.
“When you think about all the great servers in the history of our sport, I wouldn’t necessarily think of Jannik Sinner,” Henman told Sky Sports Tennis. “I’d think of (Pete) Samparas, (Goran) Ivanesevic, Boris Becker, John Isner and Ivo Karlovic, those types.
“But I think this is one of the areas were he (Sinner) has slowly improved. He has changed the technique, changed the footwork, and now he is serving so consistently. It’s fast and accurate.
“His ball striking is so good. He goes over the high part of the net and hits it to wining a couple of foot of the baseline. He can do that so consistently.”
The challenge for Sinner’s rivals right now is there does not seem to a be a weak spot in his make-up, with his run in Turin taking his unbeaten run on indoor courts to a staggering 30 matches dating back to his defeat in the ATP Finals deciding match against Novak Djokovic in November 2023.
