It seems like Jannik Sinner can do no wrong in 2024. It’s only the end of March, and the 22-year-old Italian has already won 3 big titles this year (Australian Open, ATP Rotterdam, and Miami Open). He recently beat Grigor Dimitrov in the Miami Open final by 6-3, 6-1, and is now subject to all sorts of praise coming his way. And a huge reason for that praise is the impact of Darren Cahill.
Cahill has been a coach to many high-achieving tennis players, including Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt, Simona Halep, Andy Murray, etc. Now, Sinner names the biggest improvements he’s had under Cahill’s coaching.
After his win, Sinner made his way into the press conference where he faced a variety of questions from reporters. Adam Ross from Florida Tennis asked him an interesting question about what areas Sinner believes he has improved upon, after being coached by Darren Cahill. Sinner believes it is his physical conditioning that Cahill has made him work on.
Adam Ross asked, “Darren Cahill was just in here and talked about how receptive you are to coaching, how hard you work, and what great personality you have. We interviewed Daniil Medvedev who said, you had improved your serve. So my question to you is what do you think you have improved on so much to have these incredible results and what are you working on towards the future to improve with your great team?”
Sinner answered, “I think the biggest change I’ve had is physical. We worked a lot physical in the gym, and this helps you also on the court when in your mind, you know you can play for hours and hours and you can maintain a certain level.”
The biggest notion is about his improved ‘serve’, to the extent where he had an 88% win on the first serve and 67% win on the second serve, against Grigor Dimitrov in the final. However, more than his serve, Sinner believes his overall physique and fitness levels allow him to be the best in his game. He then speaks on his serve as well.
Sinner continues, “On the court for sure, the serve I have improved, which helps you a lot, especially, when you have long rallies, and then the point after, yu make point with the serve, helps you a lot. And I think like the tactical side; trying to understand how to play against certain players helps me a lot. But to reach this you also need to improve certain shotsto do this and I think Darren and Simone are doing an amazing job with me. They understand what we have to improve and Darren prepares me really good in the mental part, trying to be ready because you know, certain things could happen on court and I just try to be ready for this moment. And the combination of Simone and Darren is just really, really good.”
Simone Vagnozzi is the other coach of Jannik Sinner, besides Darren Cahill, who couldn’t be more proud of him. Sinner explains while the serve may be the center of focus for many, including his opponents, he is happy to have improved upon all aspects of the game under both Cahill and Vagnozzi. His physical conditioning, spending more time in the gym, etc, has in turn helped him with his serve. At age 22, his endurance level is at its peak.
Jannik Sinner – The fittest of all among his peers in 2024
In 2024, Jannik Sinner played the most number of matches among the Top 10 players. He played in the Australian Open, followed by the ATP Rotterdam, then the Indian Wells, and finally the Miami Open this year. In the AO, he played 7 matches, including the final. He played 5 matches in the Rotterdam Open, which he also won. Sinner lost in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells to Carlos Alcaraz, the eventual winner, but still played 5 matches in the process. And finally, at the Miami Open, Sinner played 6 more matches, winning them all. In total, Jannik Sinner played 23 matches this year, which is more than what Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, etc have played this year.
Despite playing more matches than almost all his peers, Sinner is injury-free. He hasn’t suffered a single niggle or pain during this ongoing ATP cycle. This is in contrast to his biggest competitor Carlos Alcaraz, who has had to walk off from competitions due to injury, giving a walkover to his opponents.
This speaks volumes about his training under Cahill and Vagnozzi, and that his workout in the gym has been perfect. Not only has Sinner been injury-free, but he only lost one match this year, that too to Alcaraz in the semi-final of the Indian Wells. Sinner’s mentality to always improve no matter what has made him resilient and it has ultimately brought him such amazing glories.
