Patience, confidence and belief takes Sinner into first slam final
The Italian has made steady progress in the past two years and is now ready for his first Grand Slam final
Jannik Sinner (Icon SMI/Panoramic)
It was at Wimbledon last summer that Ivan Ljubicic, the former world No 3 and coach of Roger Federer, said we should not expect Jannik Sinner to do a Carlos Alcaraz and burst through to Grand Slam glory.
If Alcaraz’s progression was meteoric, winning the US Open in 2022 in just his eighth Grand Slam event, it has taken a little longer for Sinner to reach his first final, a feat he achieved thanks to a brilliant 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory over Novak Djokovic.
It has taken Sinner 17 Grand Slams to reach this point and he still has to get the job done in the final against either Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev. But his path to this point has been steady and in many ways, more normal as he has tested himself out in one semi-final (at Wimbledon last summer) before making it into a first final.
In this era of social media and short attention spans, we often expect people to hit the top immediately, to achieve great things. The Big Three stopped most of them breaking through but Alcaraz and now Sinner have made it, in their own ways.
“Patience can be your biggest enemy in one way, because if you’re not that patient, you rush…and then you forget maybe some steps what you should do to become a better player, to become better physically,” a thoughtful Sinner said.
“Then at some point, I don’t know, I feel like on the level what we are seeing now from my side is because of a whole year of work, and the process what we have made to become the best version what I am right now. But in the other way, as I said, I still know that I can improve many things. So my way is not finished yet. But in the other way, patience is not easy to handle. It’s also kind of practice, in one way (smiling).”
There is no question, though, that Sinner deserves his place in the final. A semi-finalist at Wimbledon last summer, Sinner learned a lot from his defeat by Djokovic that day, so much so that when they played each other three times at the end of last year, he was able to win two of the three matches they played.
Darren Cahill, who joined the Sinner coaching team in the middle of 2022, said the match that Sinner played with Djokovic at Wimbledon that summer was actually the key to his improvement.
“Part of our role is to help him learn from experience,” Cahill said on Friday. “I think the match that he played against Novak at Wimbledon went a long way to help win today.”
Sinner: You win because you feel prepared for a fight
Sinner likes to talk about the process, the journey, the road to where he stands today. For him, as Cahill said, it’s really important for him to enjoy the journey. What he’s done in the past six months has given him the belief to win this kind of match with Djokovic, who even if he was well below his usual level, still needed beating.
“I think you win the matches not only on that day,” Sinner said. “You win it because you feel prepared for a good fight. You feel prepared mentally and also physically.
“I think after last year, especially end of the year, gave me confidence that I could potentially do some good results in Grand Slams. But in the other way, you still have to show it, no? There are people who talk a lot, but you have to show it, no, because at the end of the day you’re going on the court and you have to play.
“But if it’s not this year, it’s next year, and then if it’s not next year, it’s the next year again, no. I’m really relaxed, to be honest. I just try to work as hard as possible and in my mind I feel like that’s the hard work always pays off in one way, and we are working really hard for our dreams. If this can happen, it’s good; if not, I gave 100%, and the rest I cannot control, no.”
For Cahill and Sinner’s other, long-time coach, Simone Vagnozzi, they knew Sinner always looked like he had the game to make it to this point and beyond. What they’ve done, together, is create an environment where the Italian now believes it himself.
“I think I said on ESPN a few years ago that he would be world No 1,” Cahill said. “I think he would have got here anyway, but our job is try to fast track him a bit.”
