“You could feel that he was getting closer and closer” – Mouratoglou on Sinner’s Australian Open success
Patrick Mouratoglou explains why things were perfectly aligned for Jannik Sinner to win the Australian Open in Melbourne this January
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Late last year, tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou predicted that 2024 could be Jannik Sinner’s year.
Now, with the Italian having won his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open this January, that prediction is looking spot on.
“At the end of 2023, I said this year could be Sinner’s year,” Mouratoglou explained. “So it’s not surprising for me [that Sinner won the Australian Open].”
“What was very impressive with Sinner is that he was able to play the match that we expected from him. Novak was not there [in the semi-finals] but Sinner played the exact match he was supposed to play.
“When he played his first Grand Slam final, he was able to deliver, and do this until the end of the match—deliver his level. He could have choked a lot at the end. He did not choke.”
Mouratoglou explains how “everything was aligned” for Sinner to win in Melbourne
In the post-US Open swing of the ATP Tour, Sinner was the man to beat. The Italian went 9-1 against top 10 players, defeating Novak Djokovic twice, Daniil Medvedev three times, and Carlos Alcaraz once.
“The quality of tennis he was playing at the end of the season, the victories he got, two over Novak, one in this Davis Cup match that was very important, 6-4 in the third. All these things played a big role in his ability to win his first Grand Slam final,” said Mouratoglou.
As well as his top 10 scalps, Sinner picked up two ATP 500 titles in Beijing and Vienna, made the final of the Nitto ATP Finals, and led Italy to Davis Cup glory.
“You could feel that he was getting closer and closer,” continued Mouratoglou. “Finally, everything was aligned. He had the confidence necessary because he had won so many of these matches at the end of the season. His level of play was very constant, and the quality of the tennis he was playing was extremely high, and high enough to win a Grand Slam.
“The only question mark was would he be able to deliver that in a Grand Slam final, and he gave the answer to that in the best possible way.”
The big question now, is how Sinner will fare for the remainder of the season. At No 4 in the world now, can the Italian continue to deliver consistently and rival Djokovic and Alcaraz at the top of the rankings in 2024?
