The seven major challenges ahead for Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner, who won his third Grand Slam title in Melbourne Park now faces several major challenges if he is to maintain his dominance
Jannik Sinner, Australian Open, 2025 © Zuma / Psnewz
By retaining his title this Sunday at the Australian Open at the expense of Alexander Zverev, Jannik Sinner started 2025 as he finished the 2024 season. At 23 years old, he is now leading in the Italian tennis record books, ahead of Italian legends such as Nicola Pietrangeli and Adriano Panatta.
Sinner is no longer just the undisputed leader of world tennis, which he has dominated for over a year now. Let’s no longer be afraid of words, or numbers – he is now on the trail of the greatest, and will set off in pursuit of them in the months that follow, which will be full of all kinds of challenges for him.
1) Continue his unbeaten streak
This is, in the short term, the first challenge. Sinner won his 21st consecutive match on Sunday – a personal best run that has been going since October 2 when he lost an epic final in Beijing to Carlos Alcaraz.
The Italian is still some way off Björn Borg’s Open record (49 wins in a row in 1978), or even Novak Djokovic’s 43 (between 2010 and 2011) and Roger Federer’s 41 (between 2006 and 2007). But things could move quickly. Assuming, for example, that he retains his title in Rotterdam, where he is due to play, and then wins in Indian Wells, he will equal the 32 consecutive victories that constitute Rafael Nadal’s record (in 2008).
2) win in the courts by being cleared by CAS
In chronological terms, this is the second biggest challenge for Sinner. On April 16 and 17, just after Monte Carlo, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will hear his case in court in connection with his positive doping test for Clostebol last year.
Sinner was initially cleared by an independent court, which accepted the theory of unintentional contamination. But the World Anti-Doping Agency has appealed this verdict to CAS, who will therefore re-examine the case.
Sinner, who has received the support of a large part of the players (if not all). But he still faces the prospect of a possible one-two year suspension.
3) conquering the clay
Sinner now has 19 titles to his name, but only one on clay – in Umag, in 2022, when he beat Alcaraz in the final. He has also never made a Masters 1,000 final on clay, a surface where the pace of his shots hurts his opponents a little less and where his physique has sometimes betrayed him in long-term matches, such as last year in the semi-finals of Roland-Garros against the Spaniard.
This (supposed) lack of physical stamina is the only area of the sport where Sinner has not yet removed all doubts. For the rest, especially as an Italian, he has nothing against clay. Indeed, it was at Roland-Garros that he made his first Grand Slam breakthrough, reaching the quarter-finals in 2020, at the age of 19.
4) Win a 4th Grand Slam final in a row
It is unclear where Sinner will play his fourth Grand Slam final but he will have an additional interest in winning it. On Sunday in Melbourne, he became the eighth player in the Open era to win his first three major finals after Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Gustavo Kuerten, Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Alcaraz. In this prestigious list, only Federer and Alcaraz have gone further, the Swiss even pushing on to win his first seven major finals.
Sinner is not there yet but here he is knocking on the door of a rare performance, and revealing his strength in the big events.
5) Do the “double double” Australian Open/US Open
Having achieved the Australian Open/US Open double in 2024, Sinner managed to win a third consecutive Grand Slam title on hard courts on Sunday. Once again, he elevated himself to the table of the greatest, as only John McEncore, Ivan Lendl, Djokovic and Federer had managed this hat-trick of hard-court major titles.
And here again, only Federer has pushed the record a little further by lining up five Grand Slams on hard courts in a row between the 2005 US Open and the 2007 US Open. The Swiss is the only one to have won the Australian Open/US Open double twice, in 2006 and 2007. If he succeeds this year, Sinner will have accomplished an extremely rare feat.
6) Stay within the trajectory of the big three
With three Grand Slam titles at the age of 23 years and five months, Sinner is well and truly following in the footsteps of the Big Three. He is even on a faster path than that of record-holder Djokovic, who won his third Grand Slam title at 24 years and two months, at Wimbledon, in 2011. He is also a few months ahead of Federer, who was 23 years and 11 months old when he reached the third Grand Slam milestone at Wimbledon 2004. Only Nadal, among this Big Three, has been more precocious since he scored his hat-trick at Roland-Garros in 2007, when he had just turned 21.
Alcaraz did even better as he won his fourth Grand Slam last year at Wimbledon, at only 21 years old. But Sinner is well and truly on path of the greatest, and of a possible record.
7) Extend his reign over world tennis
Rising to world No 1 without interruption since June 10 2024, Sinner will attack his 32nd consecutive week at the top of the ATP rankings, with a huge lead over second-ranked Zverev of 3,695 points.
In this area, Sinner is, for once, ahead of the Big Three, and already has the mathematical assurance of catching up very quickly with Alcaraz, who has spent 36 weeks as world No. 1. If he continues at this pace, barring of course a possible suspension from CAS, the Italian can already envisage becoming one of the greatest leaders of world tennis, even if Djokovic’s reign of 428 weeks is still some way off.
