What Jannik Sinner has been doing at the start of matches that has made him ‘virtually unplayable’
Jannik Sinner has been in sensational form at the Italian Open and each of his victories so far in Rome have one thing in common.
Sinner has defeated Sebastian Ofner, Alexei Popyrin, Andreas Pellegrino, Andrey Rublev, and Daniil Medvedev to reach the final of his home event.
The World No. 1 has dropped just one set in all of those matches, which came against Medvedev in the semi-final of the competition.
Sinner has been in cruise control for much of his matches, which has been helped by the Italian’s ability to strike his opponents early in the match.
How long it’s taken Jannik Sinner to break his opponents at the Italian Open
- R2 vs Ofner – 2
- R3 vs Popyrin – 1
- R16 vs Pellegrino – 1
- QF vs Rublev – 1
- SF vs Medvedev – 1
The World No. 1 has broken his opponent in the very first game in four of his five matches so far in Rome, which has allowed him to free up to play his game.
Only his second round opponent, Ofner, has been able to fight Sinner off to claim his first service game. Many of Sinner’s matches end very quickly, so his ability to start sets early essentially means he’s won the match already.
This new trend from Sinner has not been lost on Tim Henman, who has been watching the World No. 1’s performances for Sky Sports Tennis.
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It’s what Sinner has done time and time again on the spectacular run at Masters 1000 events. He sets the tone early. He came out, hitting the ball so hard, but with margin for error,” said Henman, during Sinner’s match with Medvedev.
“Making so few unforced errors. The early part of any set against Sinner is so important. The opposition can just try to hold serve, create a little bit of scoreboard pressure.
“If you go down that early break, Sinner plays with even more freedom. Even more power and aggression from the back of the court. When he playing like this, he’s virtually unplayable.”
Sinner’s fast starts in matches also give him a little bit more lee-way should fatigue set in, just like it did in his semi-final match with Medvedev.
The Italian raced to a one-set lead before he started to look worse for wear, which helped him fend off Medvedev’s rally. If Sinner was not already a set up, Medvedev would have almost certainly inflicted the Italian with a rare defeat.
Sinner’s next opponent, Casper Ruud, will have to start well if he wants to defeat the Italian in the final. If Ruud can keep the score level for much of the first set, he will not only stay in the game, but he will open the door for Sinner’s health issues to start causing problems for him again.
