Jannik Sinner may appear to be an unstoppable force when you watch him in action on television, but his aura is even more compelling when you get a wactch him in action from close range.
Tennis365 were invited to Roland Garros by the TNT Sports team, with their box giving us a courtside view that was impossible to better.
Sinner’s towel was a matter of inches away from our seat and when he came to dampen down the beads of sweat dripping from his forehead, we could see into the eyes of the world No 1 and sense his calm composure in the heat of battle.
We watched Sinner from our courtside seat during his impressive win against Richard Gasquet, in what was the Frenchman’s final match before he retired from tennis.
If Gasquet had any doubts about his decision to walk away from a game, he would have appreciated the game is being taken to the next level by the player currently occupying the world No 1 ranking.
More Tennis News
Tim Henman predicts who will win Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner Grand Slam battle
Chris Evert on which of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz is ‘mentally tougher’
Sinner’s fearsome ball striking has been one of the primary reasons why he has won three Grand Slam titles since his first at the Australian Open in January 2024.
Yet it feels as if he has moved to another ridiculously high level since returning from a three-month doping suspension earlier this month.
Sinner has always had something of a willowly physique, but he has returned looking stronger than ever and that is reflected in his ball striking.
His straight sets win against Gasquet on Thursday was backed up by a simply stunning 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 win against Jiri Lehecka on Saturday, as he stormed into the fourth round at Roland Garros with plenty to spare.
After witnessing how ability to crunch the ball from close range, it is no surprise that his rivals are struggling to live with him.
And while Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have winning records Sinner can only dream about, none of the ‘Big 3’ struck the ball with the venom and accuracy currently being displayed by Sinner.
Sinner’s success is not just about clean connection with the ball, but it is about the position he takes up on the court and his ability to strike the ball early, often on the rise.
The level of difficulty of the skill he is executing is so high, but he appears to have mastered the art of hitting the ball harder than anyone in tennis and doing so with barely any unforced errors.
He is also taking the ball earlier than other players and striking with that power from a position that ensures the ball is coming back to his opponent quicker than he might expect.
Sinner may start his return of serve behind the baseline, but he gets himself forward as quickly as possible and once he is on the baseline and striking the ball, he appears to be unstoppable.
His background as a top-class skier in his youth ensures his movement from side to side is immaculate, and he appears to get into the perfect position to strike the ball time and again.
The Italian is rarely off balance against Gasquet or Lehecka and once he has time on his side, his opponents are in big trouble.
Sinner’s racket head speed is astonishing. It almost looks as if he wields his Head racket with the speed on x2, as cameras struggle to cope with the number of frames per second they would need to show him in full flow.
The end result is a winning machine who only appears to be unbeatable against all rivals other than world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz, who found a way to get him off balance and inflict a defeat on Sinner at the Italian Open final earlier this month.
Former world No 1 Mats Wilander suggests Sinner is hitting the ball with a ferocity and accuracy that has never been seen in the game before, as he believes Alcaraz finds a way to unsettle him due to his speed and variety of shot.
“The main reason why Sinner struggles against Alcaraz is he is so fast at doing everything,” Wilander told Tennis365 in his role as a TNT Sports analyst.
“The other reason Jannik doesn’t like playing against him he has a big forehand and that can knock you off balance.
“The big thing with Sinner is he strikes the ball so hard and also the way he can strike it early, without making too many mistakes.
“That is too much for a lot of people, but Alacarz is so quick that he can get to a lot of the balls other players cannot reach.
“When Sinner has a forehand and time to hit it, the other players have to guess left or right to have a chance to get it. Carlos doesn’t have that problem so much as he is super fast.
“I was in the front row watching their Rome final a few weeks back and for the first half an hour, it looked like Alcaraz was struggling to hang with Sinner.
“Then he started to absorb the power coming at him and found a way to swing it in his favour.
“Okay, Sinner could have won the first set of that match and it could have been a different result, but you could see that Alcaraz was getting used to absorbing the pace and when he then got Jannik doing things he didn’t want to do, the match turned in his favour.”
Alcaraz’s method to get past Sinner is proving to be successful, as he has won seven of his eleven matches against the mighty Italian, but the rest of the tennis world are quaking in their boots when they take on the biggest ball striker the game has seen.
READ NEXT: Two big reasons why Carlos Alcaraz unsettles Jannik Sinner revealed by former world No 1
The post Jannik Sinner is already the ‘best player of all-time’ in one key area appeared first on Tennis365.
Tennis News – Tennis365