Jannik Sinner could become even more dominant than he already is right now.
Sinner is the huge favorite to win Roland Garros this year, particularly as his biggest rival Carlos Alcaraz is absent due to a wrist injury.
The world number one has won 29 consecutive matches coming into this year’s tournament, where Sinner could complete the Career Grand Slam.
Sinner is clearly the best player in men’s tennis right now, but his coach Darren Cahill believes there is plenty more to come from his player.
Darren Cahill believes Jannik Sinner is still years away from reaching his peak
Cahill joined Sinner’s coaching team in July 2022, alongside his other coach Simone Vagnozzi, and he has helped the Italian win all four of his Grand Slam titles so far.
This was at the time of Wimbledon that year, where Sinner was beaten by Novak Djokovic in a five set match, and Cahill has revealed how advice from the 24-time champion helped his player improve his game.
“Yeah, there’s a couple of matches that helped him a lot,” Cahill said on The Big T Podcast. “Clearly that one, learning from Novak and getting off to a two set lead and then losing that match. He actually played him the next year, I think he played a better level the next year and lost in straight sets at Wimbledon.
“But yeah, I grabbed Novak after the interview that was done with him and I said listen, ‘I’m just starting with Jannik, I don’t want you to overstep your mark and be respectful of course, you don’t have to tell me anything, but is there anything that stands out that might be helpful in starting to work with him?’.
“He gave me 10 or 15 minutes, he doesn’t remember this by the way, but he gave me 10 or 15 minutes and he broke down his game, talked about the variation or the lack of variation in his game and how you can get used to the pace and his shot, how you’re not scared of him coming into the net, because you know he doesn’t like coming in, how he’s not playing drop shots, how his serve is a little bit readable.
“So, a lot of that we kind of knew anyway, not all of it, so we were able to go back to Jannik and say just to reiterate what we’re doing, this is what Novak said and coming from Novak it meant a lot. So he said, ‘Alright, let’s get to work’.
“So all that stuff that you are working on every single day to create variation in Jannik’s game, to create finishing skills, because a lot of the juniors struggle to transition to the seniors, because everybody hits the ball well from the back of the court, but against the best players in the world, how are you going to finish the point? How can you complete the point?
“And to do that against the best you need either a massive shot, be it a big serve or a big forehand, or you need to transition to the net, or you need to bring your opponent to the net, or you need to create angles on the court. So, variation is the key in today’s game and over the last three to four years, Simone and I have spent a lot of time, mainly Simone, about how to create more finishing skills in Jannik’s game.”
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Despite all of the improvements Sinner has made to his game in terms of variety, Cahill believes that he is at least three years away from reaching his peak level.
“He’s not scared to try something new, and I think that’s, firstly it’s brave, but I think he’s always had this improvement mentality that he wants to continue to get better,” added Cahill.
“He knows that he’s not going to be playing his best tennis right now. He believes and I believe that he’s going to be playing his best tennis when he’s about 27, 28, 29, 30 years of age, so there’s no reason to stop experimenting with your game.”
This should be a real concern for the rest of the ATP Tour, who are already some distance behind both Sinner and Alcaraz.
Alcaraz himself may also be concerned by this, particularly if he does not feel he has as many improvements to make as Cahill does for Sinner.
Who do you think will retire with more Grand Slam titles?
Jannik Sinner has one clear improvement he could make at Grand Slams
It is hard to see how Sinner can make significant improvements to his game, which appears to have almost no holes in it.
However, there is one clear area where Sinner could improve at Grand Slams, which are the most significant tournaments for him.
Sinner has a poor record in longer matches, having lost all nine matches he has played that have lasted over three hours and 50 minutes at major tournaments.
This includes Sinner’s defeat to Alcaraz in the Roland Garros final last year, as well as his defeat to Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals in January.
Alcaraz has only ever lost one of the 15 five set matches he has played, which is even more a reason for Sinner to focus on improving his record in longer matches.
Sinner will not be expecting to play a long first round match at Roland Garros this year, as he takes on French wildcard Clement Tabur.
