Many tennis enthusiasts must have heard of the name Riccardo Piatti. For the unversed, Piatti is a professional tennis coach from Italy who has had an illustrious list of pupils since the last 35 years. Piatti coached the great Novak Djokovic part-time for 9 months across 2005 and 2006 when the Serbian was just 18 years old. Some of the other big names include France’s Richard Gasquet, Canada’s Milos Raonic, 5-time women’s singles Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova and until recently, the current men’s singles World No.8 Jannik Sinner.
Piatti must have surely been one delighted man when Djokovic and Sinner played against each other at the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Wimbledon Championships respectively. While the Serbian trumped the rising Italian star on both occasions, Piatti has boldly claimed that Sinner is not far away from the day when he will match Djokovic’s level and beat him in Grand Slams.
Has Jannik Sinner progressed since 2022 loss to Novak Djokovic?
Piatti was renowned as the full-time head coach of Ivan Ljubicic, the tall-big serving Croatian. Under Piatti, Ljubicic shifted from being World No. 954 back in 1997 to becoming World No.3 in the late 2000s, with that partnership lasting till 2012.
In 2022, Jannik Sinner was perhaps the only player to push Novak Djokovic to the brink of losing. Sinner won the first two sets, but Djokovic’s fitness and resilience was more than enough for him to make another comeback in a Grand Slam match. With that win, Djokovic advanced to the semi-final and eventually won his 7th Wimbledon title and 21st Grand Slam overall.
Cut to this year and Sinner failed to win a single match in their Wimbledon semi-final match, although the Italian did create chances for himself to do so, especially in the third set. However, he could not capitalize on this with Djokovic once again winning the big points and managing to break the Sinner service game multiple times.
As a result, Piatti’s claim might not have any substance going by results. Yet, with Djokovic also calling Sinner a ‘complete player’ and the Italian improving his overall Wimbledon performance as compared to 2022, the coach’s prediction might come true in the future. Afterall, Piatti was reportedly amongst the first people to have predicted back in 2006 that Djokovic would reach the level of Nadal and Federer and become the World No.1 because of his family values, hard work, focus and determination to be the very best in the business.
When it comes to Sinner, in a recent interview with Il Tirreno, Piatti said that he was at the iconic Centre Court itself when Sinner and Djokovic played but saw the match in increments. Yet, when he checked up on overall tournament statistics, the Italian youngster was ‘close’ to Djokovic’s numbers. The coach called the Serbian a ‘monster’ for being a reference point for his competitors till date in a difficult sport like tennis, which has changed over the years. Piatti was quoted as saying –
“I saw little of Jannik’s semifinal because I was on the court. However, I checked the statistics and he came very close to Nole’s performance. That means he is very close to catching up with the monster Novak.
“Nole Djokovic continues to be the reference point and continues to play at his level, indeed perhaps with more precision and determination. On the other side we have three guys who are growing like Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner. Right now the focus is all on them but I would watch out for others as well.
“I want the kids to be autonomous on the court and know what to do in every situation. There is a path to follow and not everyone starts right away but some arrive later. You have to have a lot of determination and never give up. It’s not easy because you have to keep learning: just look at Nole.”
Will Jannik Sinner rival Carlos Alcaraz?
It is not just Piatti but many in the tennis community who also believe that Jannik Sinner will form a huge part of men’s tennis’ future ‘Big Three’ alongside Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune. The trio’s performances on the ATP Tour in the last 2-3 years have seen him have a lion’s share of titles won across all surfaces and venues, with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal being selective with their tournaments. Novak Djokovic also didn’t feature or was knocked out in many of them.
With Federer now retired, Nadal not likely to return till January 2024 and Djokovic being beaten in the Wimbledon 2023 final, the upcoming ‘North American swing’ and other ATP tournaments gives the young trio a great opportunity to stamp their authority on the Tour.
And sure enough, Carlos Alcaraz himself admitted after his Wimbledon 2023 title win that Jannik Sinner is his biggest rival on the ATP Tour amongst the younger, inexperienced players. He was quoted as saying in an interview with TYC Sports –
“Having someone there, with whom you fight, with whom you have that battle, that beautiful rivalry, is important to maintain motivation for so long. Right now I think I have it and I’m not afraid to say it: for me it’s Sinner at the moment. That beautiful rivalry that we have, those big games that we have played, on big stages. As the years go by there will be better ones and we will fight for the big titles.”
Soon to turn 22, Sinner seems to have many results, ingredients in his game, coaching from the past and rivals complimenting him all in his favor. The fact that Alcaraz has set the bar high makes many forget that a player matures with time and doesn’t necessarily win everything young. Ask Novak Djokovic himself, who could be Jannik Sinner’s biggest inspiration in that sense as well. Sinner’s outing in the upcoming US Open 2023 could provide a better answer to the question.
