“Special” Jannik Sinner is ready to lead tennis’ youth revolution alongside Carlos Alcaraz, according to his coach Darren Cahill.
Sinner’s comeback victory against Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final gave him a first grand slam title and appears a sign of things to come.
The 22-year-old has followed in the wake of Carlos Alcaraz, who is two years younger, and between them they have now won three of the last six slams, with Novak Djokovic winning the rest.
The Serbian will be 37 in May and, while writing him off would be extremely premature, there is no doubt the hierarchy is changing.
Cahill said: “I think this sport at the moment has a few superstars. I think Carlos is very similar to Jannik in both the way they play with the excitement level they bring to the game, and their personalities and their likability.
“Both guys are incredibly alike off the court. They both like each other. They have a friendly rivalry. They both light it up when they play each other. I don’t think any of their matches have ever been boring.
“I think we have some really good personalities in the game at the moment, and it’s important they keep winning. It’s important they do what Jannik was able to do, and that’s to show a side of this young generation that are going to fight until the very end.”
He continued: “They really want to make a name for themselves, and Jannik did that. Carlos has done that already a couple of times, the match he played at Wimbledon to beat Novak was just a special performance.
“Our job now is just to make sure that we keep him pumped up. It’s a long year, and it’s important to enjoy the moment, but when we get back onto the tennis court, we will try to keep him in that good mindset and try to keep him winning.”
Alcaraz became a slam champion as a teenager in New York before stunning Djokovic in five sets at Wimbledon last summer.
Sinner’s path has been more gradual and Cahill, who previously worked with the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Simona Halep, has no doubt Alcaraz’s success has inspired his man.
“Hell, yeah, absolutely,” he said with a smile. “There’s no question seeing the young players come through and having success drives each and every one of them. Not just Jannik. They all desire it.
“Carlos has trailblazed for a lot of young players. We’re thankful for that. He’s a delight to watch play, and a delight to watch him on court. We aspire to be as good as him and hopefully one day be better than him but, at the moment we’re chasing Carlos, and we’ll continue to do that.”
Sinner, who hails from the north of Italy and was a champion skier as a child, split from long-term coach Riccardo Piatti in the summer of 2022 and hired renowned Australian Cahill and countryman Simone Vagnozzi.
The combination is certainly working, and Cahill added: “We believe in Jannik, we always have. He’s a special young kid. Even the way he hits the ball, it just sounds special.
“When you hit the ball the way he does, when you want to improve the way he does, when you move the way he does, he’s going to have success at some point.
“Our job as coaches is to try to fast track that as quickly as possible and get him to where he wants to go quickly so he can have a long window at the top of the game.
“He’s been doing well. He’s absorbing everything and trying new things on the court, and he just wants to get better. I’m sure after this sinks in he won’t settle. He’ll never settle.”
Sinner is popular with his peers, who have long known the explosive power contained in his wiry frame.
Speaking on Eurosport, Australian star Nick Kyrgios said: “Jannik is an incredibly nice guy in the locker room. You always see him super professional, but he’s like a sponge.
“Ever since he came on tour that first match he played against Steve Johnson in Rome, the locker room was watching and thinking, ‘Who is this skinny guy who has the crowd in the palm of his hand?’. We could already see the ball-striking.
“This is going to be such a big leapfrog to him, I think we’re going to see him win plenty more slams in the next couple of years. Now he’s got this one, he’s going to be unstoppable.”
Djokovic thrilled by prospect of 'one last dance' with Nadal
Novak Djokovic is thrilled by the prospect of meeting Rafael Nadal for "one last dance" at the Paris Olympics, if the Spaniard overcomes an injury setback to feature at Roland-Garros.
Thursday's men's singles draw saw Djokovic paired with Australia's Matthew Ebden in the first round, with Nadal taking on Marton Fucsovics.
The legendary duo – who have won 46 grand slam singles titles between them – will meet in the second round if they both advance through their openers this weekend.
Djokovic and Nadal have previously faced off on 59 occasions, with the Serbian winning 30 of those contests but losing four of the last six, the most recent being a Nadal victory in four sets in the 2022 French Open quarter-finals.
Nadal's participation at the Games was thrown into doubt when his coach Carlos Moya said he had suffered a "setback" on Thursday and required 48 hours of rest.
If Nadal – who is widely expected to retire later this year – does make the tournament, Djokovic is looking forward to the prospect of facing him for a 60th time.
"Obviously he hasn't played much. His ranking dropped, so there was always going to be that possibility of me meeting him in an early round and there we go," Djokovic said.
"It's going to be a spectacle, definitely, if we get to meet. We will spread some fireworks on the court, like the good old times.
"I hope we get to meet because it will probably be one last dance for the both of us."
Djokovic is set to appear at his fifth Olympics in the French capital, the joint-most by any male player since the sport returned to the Games in 1988 (with Yen Hsun Lu).
He is the player with the most matches played (19) and joint-most matches won (13, level with Roger Federer) at the Olympics since 1988.
However, his best result at the Games remains a Bronze medal at Beijing 2008, when he was beaten by eventual gold medallist Nadal in the semi-finals.
Djokovic lost the bronze medal match to Pablo Carreno Busta at the delayed Tokyo Games three years ago, also losing to Juan Martin del Potro at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Linette dominates first all-Polish WTA final to win Prague Open
Magda Linette rounded off her Olympic preparations in style as she claimed her third WTA title with a comfortable win over Magdalena Frech at the Prague Open.
Linette, who beat Viktoriya Tomova and Linda Noskova on her way to the final, won in straight sets 6-2 6-1 as she now heads to Paris to face Mirra Andreeva.
The world number 41 was in the ascendency from the off, forcing a break in the fourth game and never looking back.
Despite the best efforts of Frech, who saved one set point, Linette continued to apply the pressure and another break put her a set up.
Linette would again break in the fourth game of the second set, winning three games on the bounce to secure her first career win over her compatriot.
Data Debrief: Linette prevails in first all-Polish affair
The final in Prague between Linette and Frech was the first all-Polish WTA level final in the Open Era.
Linette's triumph over her opponent was her first, having lost in the pair's previous encounter in Saint-Malo back in 2022.
During the contest, the world number 41 gave nothing away, saving all four of the break points she faced while converting three of the seven she had against Frech.
Nadal suffers injury 'setback' as Olympics participation thrown into doubt
Rafael Nadal may be facing another injury setback at the Paris Olympic Games after his coach warned over the Spaniard's fitness.
The 22-time major champion is widely expected to retire at the end of this year, though is preparing for a final swansong at Roland-Garros, where he has won 14 titles.
Nadal is set to play in the singles and doubles tournaments of the Olympics, partnering current French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz for the latter competition.
Yet his participation has become doubtful after coach Carlos Moya confirmed Nadal had cancelled his training session on Thursday due to a hamstring issue.
"It was a setback and we decided that today Rafa would rest and not train to recover," Moya said, as quoted by Spanish journalist Rafael Plaza.
"We are going to give ourselves 48 hours, we have to wait."
The 38-year-old is reportedly feeling soreness in both his left and right hamstring having pulled out of a scheduled practice session with Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz had been partnering Nadal throughout the week during training on the clay courts of Paris, though the veteran's feature has now been thrown under a cloud of doubt.
Nadal is one of just two players to have won Olympic gold in both singles and doubles since the sport returned to the Games in 1988, doing so at Beijing 2008 (singles) and Rio 2016 (doubles).
In the singles in the French capital, Nadal has been drawn against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in the opening round, and the prize could be a second-round date with long-term rival Novak Djokovic.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
