A Detailed Look At Jannik Sinner's Tennis Game And Why He Might Be World Number 1 In 2024
Jannik Sinner was born in Italy in 2001 and is currently ranked no. 4 on the ATP Pepperstone ranking. Tennis could have missed out on a great champion if Sinner had chosen skiing over tennis when he was 12 years old. He was a junior skiing champion from ages 8-12 and idolised Olympic champion Bode Miller as a kid; however, he decided to make the switch to tennis and was coached by Riccardo Piatti from then till the end of 2022.
Jannik Sinner’s career is looking extra promising as he reached a career-high ranking of world no. 4 by the end of the 2023 season, also reaching the finals at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. He has wins against the current top 3 players Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev. The 2023 season was extraordinary for the Italian as he won 4 titles including his maiden Masters 1000 title in Canada. With a W-L record of 64-15, he is ranked as the third-best performer on tour in the 2023 season.
Sinner, together with Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune are often referred to as the “future” of men’s tennis. All three of them under the age of 23 have already achieved huge feats in their careers, brewing exciting rivalry with each other. Sinner is looking to carry his great form into the 2024 season.
Tennis Gear
Jannik Sinner is a sponsored Nike athlete who sports his kits and shoes on the court. Sinner is also an ambassador for Gucci, a luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Photos of him carrying a customised Gucci bag at Wimbledon and the US Open went viral. His racket sponsor is Head and he is endorsing the Head Speed. However, like many other players, he is playing with a different frame under the Speed paint job. He is said to be using a customised racket using the stock frame coded HEAD TGT 301.4 which is also known as Head Graphene Touch Speed MP (a frame that was released in 2016).
Racket Specifications:
Head Size: 100 sq. in.
Strung weight: 328g
Length: 27”
Swingweight: 340
String pattern: 16×19
Strung Balance: 330mm (3 pts HL)
Dampener: No
Sinner strings his racket with a full bed of Head Hawk Touch, a stiff polyester string, at 61 lbs or 28 kg for extreme control. He strings his racket at a relatively high tension, unlike his peers Alcaraz and Rune who string at mid-50s tension. The high tension in his string bed offers much control but less forgiveness, as he sacrifices a good amount of comfort and power that other softer strings offer. The setup works for the Italian as it allows him to swing out and impart massive topspin on both wings without losing control of his shots.
The setup is not recommended for recreational players as it is highly demanding and calls for a high skill level; otherwise, prolonged use of such setup may potentially lead to arm issues. Like other professionals, Sinner also adjusts the tension of the racket according to the climate he is playing in.
Forehand
Jannik Sinner plays right-handed and uses a strong semi-western grip for his forehand (his index knuckle on bevel 4). As one of the bigger hitters of his generation, he fully utilises his legs and hip rotation to generate the pace he has on his shots. Sinner generally hits with a lot of topspin on the right wing as well.
Here is a breakdown of his forehand:
He grips his racket loosely and has his left hand supporting the throat of the racket as he starts his unit turn.
He turns and then releases his left hand when his racket face is facing the right completely (his left elbow is bent about 90°).
He then drops the racket back and has the hitting face of his stringbed facing the back, which is unconventional.
While doing so, he moves his left leg forward into a semi-open or neutral stance, shifting his weight forward. His left arm is also kept out to help him gauge the distance.
He pivots on his left leg to initiate the hip rotation while starting the swing by rotating his wrist so that his racket face turns forward (starting the racket lag phase). He swings with the wrist leading and racket butt pointing towards the ball, then moves through the motion and makes contact with the ball. His racket head is then levelled with his wrist, ending the shot with a full follow-through.
He will fully uncoil his body, allowing his shoulders and hips to fully rotate, ending square with his body facing towards the net at the end of his follow-through. His strong semi-western grip will allow him to start his contact from below the ball and brush it up for heavy topspin.
Backhand
Jannik Sinner uses the double-handed backhand which is his absolute weapon. He has the heaviest backhand on tour - the RPMs he can put in his backhand shots are unbelievable - making it hard for the opponent to return even if he does hit it with poor placement. No other player on tour hits with as much topspin on their backhand as he does.
He uses the eastern grip on his top hand and the continental grip on his bottom hand when he hits the backhand. Here is a breakdown of his backhand:
After the split step, he does a full unit turn as he changes his grip on the racket. He will then be in a neutral or closed stance to pivot on his front foot while he pulls his racket back.
He starts the backswing. He has his right arm bent and then fully extends as he pulls the racket further back.
His left arm will start to straighten as the tip of the racket head reaches the ideal position behind his glutes with his right wrist fully relaxed.
He creates the racket flip motion by flipping the tip of the racket then starts to swing towards the ball.
As he swings he starts to pivot on his front leg to generate power while guiding his racket forward with his left arm simultaneously.
He continues to accelerate the racket forward with his left arm and then makes contact with the ball in his strike zone. The entire uncoiling motion of his hips allows maximum acceleration and power as he launches at the ball.
He will finish off the swing with the follow-through and has his body uncoiled fully to keep his balance and recover quickly.
The extreme backswing on Sinner’s backhand is the key to the spin and pace he can generate in his shots. The takeback on his swing is similar to Rafael Nadal’s lefty backhand which also moves with an insane amount of rotation and speed.
Serve
Jannik Sinner struggled with his serve for a long time before the 2023 season despite being tall. With the guidance of his new coaches, he made a few changes to his service motion, which included shortening his preparation and the switch from the platform to a pin-point stance. He has since made great improvements and taken advantage of his height for power.
Here is the breakdown of his service motion:
Starting at the baseline, he will position his right foot about 30° towards the baseline with his left foot (heel not touching the ground) about shoulder width behind his right foot before his winding up motion.
At this stage his upper body will be leaning forward, holding the racket and ball close to his body.
He tosses the ball up with his tossing arm fully extended. This also initiates the move of his left leg forward, sliding into the pin-point stance.
He then loads his legs with his tossing arm fully extended and his hips leaning forward toward the baseline. All while raising the racket into the trophy position.
In the trophy position, his racket is straight with the tip facing the sky.
He relaxes his legs and starts to push down on the ground like a spring. Then he starts to move his body and chest upwards while his tossing arm starts to come down towards his body.
As he propels up, he starts his racket motion by raising then dropping it and then he extends his arm leading with his hitting elbow while pronating his wrist as his racket approaches the ball.
His arm will be fully extended as the racket makes contact with the ball. He also makes sure to fully uncoil putting all the energy he generates from the ground up into the serve, utilising the full kinetic chain.
He follows through the serve across his body and lands in the court with his right foot while the left is up to keep his balance. He will land about 30cm inside the court facing the net.
He readies himself to receive the return.
Sinner used to struggle somewhat with his serving stance, but now it seems that he has finally settled for the pin-point stance under the coaching of both Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill. The changes to his stance and simplification of his service preparation improved his effectiveness on his serves from 61.6% in the first half of 2023 to 64.9% in the latter half of 2023.
Overall Playstyle
The Italian is an aggressive baseliner with a tall, slim build and boasts incredible movement on the court. Sinner stands at 1.88m with a punishing serve. He is consistent and hits heavy with topspin on both wings, but the backhand wing is definitely the superior one. He has one of the heaviest backhands amongst the players on tour at the moment and is less susceptible to errors on this side compared to his forehand.
Sinner's forehand is also a massive weapon and has been on the rise in the 2023 season. He gained confidence in his forehand and is willing to take risks and hit big at any opportunity that arises. Now, he is almost unbreakable on both wings.
Sinner, despite being relatively tall, moves and covers the court well with his flexibility and speed. His speed is comparable to his current greatest rival, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. He also has great adaptability, and he adjusts well to varied conditions, surfaces and the playstyle of his opponents.
However, as an aggressive baseliner, he does not approach the net often enough. His slice is also slightly lacking in comparison to the other players on tour. If one were to draw comparisons and similarities to Sinner’s game, it would be Novak Djokovic. Their similarity comes from the smart use of their flexibility and reach to grind opponents down from the baseline to win points. Both players boast incredible movement and defence on the court.
Sinner dominates and plays best on hard courts. However, with his great adaptability, he has attained decent results on both clay and grass. Though his results on the other surfaces fall short of his performance on hard courts, I believe he will continue to improve on these surfaces in the future.
Current Achievements
Sinner is probably one of the most well-liked players of his generation at the moment. This is because of his calm demeanour and the attitude he exudes on and off-court. He is not a player who shows a whole lot of emotions on the court when he is down. A humble and respectful player, he does not let his frustrations take over. His mental fortitude was key to his success in 2023 and will continue to be one of his greatest strengths as he progresses in his career.
Sinner has a relatively complete game for a player of his age. He is already one of the biggest ball strikers on the tour at the moment. It is never easy to consistently maintain a high level of tennis, as even the highly raved Carlos Alcaraz faced some setbacks after a phenomenal 2022 season.
Sinner started his 2024 season exceptionally well, picking up consistent wins and boasting a 28-2 W-L record just weeks before the upcoming French Open. He has successfully established himself at the top of the game by securing 3 titles including the Australian Open within the first 4 months of this season.
Sinner has remained consistent and confident in the 2024 season thus far; however, he is currently hampered by a hip injury sustained at the Madrid Open, which caused him to withdraw from his home tournament in Rome. Hopefully, the Italian can recover in time for the French Open and continue the season with no injuries.
He is currently only 1090 points behind Novak Djokovic. If he does prevail in the coming months, we will definitely be looking at a new world no. 1 and the first from Italy.