Jannik Sinner is undeniably one of the best young talents on the ATP Tour. The 22-year-old has achieved numerous incredible feats that rightfully get him praise. However, Serena Williams’ former coach with whom she won 10 Grand Slams, Patrick Mouratoglou didn’t hesitate when comparing Sinner to two men’s singles tennis greats – Roger Federer and Andre Agassi, in an interaction with Nick Kyrgios.
As seen in the latest episode of the Good Trouble podcast, Patrick Mouratoglou and Nick Kyrgios had an interesting nearly 30-minute-long conversation about a wide range of topics. Among the many, the two first agreed upon the fact that Roger Federer is the most naturally gifted tennis player ever.
“Not even a discussion Roger is by far the most talented, coordinated, elegant tennis player and I said several times I think nobody will ever play tennis the way Roger did. I don’t think it’s possible,” Mouratoglou was quoted as saying in the interview.
However, from the young generation, Mouratoglou picked Jannik Sinner as the player that has the “best style”. The popular coach went on to dub Sinner as the ‘Modern Andre Agassi’ before lauding the current World No.2 for his ball-striking ability and impressive baseline game.
“The way he hits the ball his timing, his ability to never move back, for me is Agassi but modern. Because the guy never steps back. Ball striking is a joke – he cuts the trajectories all the time. He plays so fast and it looks normal when he does it doesn’t look an effort… He is the most impressive,” the Frenchman concluded.
Patrick isn’t inaccurate with his assessment. Not just in terms of style, but Sinner’s mannerisms (especially elegance) is also quite similar to Roger Federer’s. As far as the comparisons to Agassi, there is no debate on that end considering that the American himself revealed a few traits that Jannik resembles of his own, earlier in 2024.
Jannik Sinner Is Touted to Be the Next Big Thing in Tennis
Jannik Sinner took the sporting world by storm during his incredible Australian Open 2024 title run. Andre Agassi was among the many esteemed personalities from the tennis community to be in awe of the San Candido native. In fact, ahead of the final match between Sinner and Medvedev, Agassi revealed that the Italian reminded the American legend of himself.
In an interview with the Australian Open, Andre Agassi was quoted as saying –
“Listen I always have a soft spot for just a great ball striker. It’s just there is something about it that just makes me go ‘ohh’. The only peace I had on tennis court was when I hit a ball dead perfect. And so you know I was somebody like Sinner hit the ball and I just go that’s got to feel good, the sound. But I also like the IQ of it all,” said Agassi.
It’s interesting that Patrick Mouratoglou chose to shower Jannik Sinner with such lofty praise despite his pupil – Holger Rune – being the Italian’s competitor. Rune, who is also hyped to be the next big thing in tennis alongside Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, should take his coach’s words as extra motivation.
Out of the three, Jannik Sinner is currently in top form and also the clear favorite to win the French Open 2024, according to many pundits and fans. He is set to play France’s Corentin Moutet in the fourth round of the competition on Saturday.
