The Sinner

As we head into a new calendar year of professional tennis, it’s a great time to look at the crop of players towards the top of both the men’s and women’s game and forecast who will take the next step in their careers.

On the men’s side, one of the most intriguing young players who may be due for a true breakout season is Jannik Sinner, the 22-year- old Italian. Sinner has been a top player for several years now, and with that comes high expectations as we head into the new year.

Sinner will lead a crop of young talented players in the men’s game that will be seeking their first career major in 2024, a list that also includes the likes of Holger Rune, Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton, but Sinner could be the one to rise above the rest.

That isn’t just this writer’s opinion, it’s the feelings that many of the game’s top players share.

“He is one of those guys who are able to win a Grand Slam,” said two-time Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz. “I think he’s going to reach No.1 in 2024, or he’s going to give himself the chance to reach No. 1.”

At the end-of-the-year ATP Finals, Sinner defeated the all-time majors leader Novak Djokovic during the group stages, and ultimately reached the event’s final, before losing to the aforementioned Djokovic.

But he did a lot to impress during his two-week run in Torino, which is a little more than 300 miles to the southeast of where he grew up in Italy.

“He’s definitely going to win some Slams,” Nick Kyrgios said while broadcasting for the Tennis Channel for the ATP Finals. “Next year, I reckon he might win a Slam. That’s my early prediction. He’s incredible.”

Sinner’ tennis journey began in the snowy mountain town of Tyrol in the northern part of Italy, and thus he spent a lot of his early years skiing while also playing soccer and tennis. He made the decision to focus solely on tennis when he was 13-years-old, moving down to the Italian Riviera to put more emphasis on his training.

By the time he was 16, Sinner was competing in professional events and was a multiple-time ATP Challenger Tour title winner. A couple of years later in 2019, he was named the ATP Newcomer of the Year and found himself inside the Top 100 of the ATP World rankings, and won the ATP Next Gen Finals that same year in Milan.

Sinner has shown himself to be a fast-riser, so the opinions of his peers should come as no surprise to anyone. He now finds himself ranked fourth in the world at just 22-years-old, which brings us to those ever-increasing expectations.

At the end of 2023, Sinner led the Italian team to the Davis Cup title. One of his opponents, Alex de Minaur, commented:

“He’s seriously impressive, the level he’s showing.” Much of Sinner’s success in 2023 has come under the tutelage of Darren Cahill, one of the top coaches on both the men’s and women’s tour, who famously worked with Simona Halep during her run to multiple major titles. In 2023, Sinner won four titles, including the first Masters 1000 trophy of his career at the Canadian Open, and achieved his highest year-end ranking.

Sinner credits Cahill for helping him take the next step in his game, particularly from the mental side of things.

“I think he was really important for me, for how I was growing as a player, because I feel like he gave me a lot of confidence in one way,” said Sinner. “Obviously gave me something new to the team. Mostly I think the combination with him and with Simone Vagnozzi and with the whole team is really, really nice. I think this was key for me. I think every team has its own kind of stability. I have mine, and I think we have worked really well.”

Like most good coaches, Cahill heaped praise upon his player and laid the credit for Sinner’s improvement and rise at the feet of the Italian.

“His greatest virtue is his ability to adapt to all types of situations and he is a very mature boy for his age, in that sense he reminds me a little of how Borg and Wilander managed the pressure,” said Cahill. “He is always smiling, he is very intelligent and competitive, in addition to generating a very good atmosphere wherever he goes. I’m not surprised by the level at which he has played the last two weeks of the season because I know that he loves this sport and how he works.”

Cahill also discussed Sinner’s intelligence and understanding not only of tennis, but what is needed for him to continue climbing levels.

“He has learned a lot in the last two years, and his improvement has been evident in some shots as well, such as the sliced backhand. He has also polished things on his forehand, which is one of the most impressive I have seen in my career,” Cahill added. “From now on I know that he is prepared to do anything to continue improving. He has the will to do technical, tactical nutritional adjustments and everything that can be asked of him. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years he realized who needs something different from me, for example. I know he is going to have enormous success, regardless of the coaches who accompany him.”

Sinner is already the greatest male player in the history of Italy, achieving the highest-ranking for any Italian man. His successful season earned him a number of nominations for the 2023 ATP Awards, including Most Improved Player and the Sportsmanship Award, and now hopes to continue to build on that momentum in the new year and capture that maiden Slam.

He has reached at least the quarterfinals of all four majors in his career, including a semifinal run at Wimbledon in 2023, and as many of his peers and rivals have suggested, 2024 could be the year we see Sinner as the last man standing at one of the sport’s four Grand Slams.