Each month, we turn to our ausopen.com experts to give their thoughts on players making waves.
As the tour makes its rapid transition from clay to grass, we caught up with Game Insight Group’s Simon Rea – former coach of Sam Stosur and Nick Kyrgios – to discuss five players generating interest in June.
Jannik Sinner
Sinner arrived at Roland Garros under a significant injury cloud, and left with the world No.1 ranking after coming within a set of the final.
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It’s the continuation of a magnificent season for the Italian, who has won 33 of 36 matches and was on a 12-match winning streak at Slams until Carlos Alcaraz ended that unbeaten run.
Despite Sinner saying ahead of Roland Garros that he was “trying to understand year after year how to better play on clay”, Rea believes he has shown enormous promise on that surface – and could be even more of a force on grass.
"He came very close to toppling Alcaraz on clay, and he was right there with him for the duration of that,” Rea said.
"At Wimbledon it's taken a heck of an effort from Novak Djokovic over the last two years to stop him. So I think things, in more ways than one, auger well a promising grass-court campaign for Sinner.
"The weaponry on serve, not an extreme grip but one that tends more Western… there’s no reason to suspect that an even better version of Sinner in 2024 doesn't go even further again at Wimbledon.”
There’s a good chance Sinner and Alcaraz will be the top two seeds for Wimbledon, meaning they could only meet in the final. How would that re-match play out?
Not to be yesterday. I’m happy with an overall good tournament, we keep pushing for more, the work never finishes. Congrats to @carlosalcaraz for the win and good luck in the final. Thank you everyone for your support 🙏🏼
🔜🌱🦊 forza pic.twitter.com/TCpj6yceqC— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) June 8, 2024
“If you ask me right now, I'm gonna go with Sinner,” Rea said.
“What we saw from him in Australia, (then) getting back on the grass, which I think is slightly more favourable to him in that match-up, I've gotta like Sinner's chances of reversing that result from Roland Garros.
“And if Sinner were to do so, that would even the ledger.”
Aryna Sabalenka
Illness played a role in Sabalenka’s earlier-than-expected quarterfinal defeat at Roland Garros, where she was targeting a seventh consecutive major semifinal.
But she appears to have made a reassuring recovery, posting footage from a grass-court practice session on her Instagram.
Despite the disappointment of what unfolded in Paris, Rea believed Sabalenka could hold her head high after an excellent clay-court campaign, and said the world No.3, like Sinner, could be even stronger on grass.
“She was incredibly competitive against Iga (Swiatek) in the Madrid final, still made the final in Rome. It’s impossible for her clay-court campaign to have been much more impressive than it was,” Rea said.
"(With grass she) gets back onto a more favoured surface for her, in terms of bringing her weapons' to the table and the ability to dominate plenty of short points, plus the return-on-investment for her on both serve and return, the aggression that we love to see from her.
“I think she's right at the top of the conversation for Wimbledon.”
Coco Gauff
The new world No.2 completed another excellent campaign at Roland Garros, where she now owns 20 match wins and an 80-per-cent winning rate – her best of the four Slams.
After notching her third consecutive trip to the semifinal stage of a Grand Slam there, and she next shifts her focus to Wimbledon, the place it all began for her as a teen phenom in 2019.
Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert recently told ausopen.com that he felt her game had a lot of upside on grass.
And Rea agrees.
"One of the first thoughts that comes to my mind about Coco making the transition onto grass is around the challenge that faster surfaces can pose in terms of her forehand; she's one that does have a more extreme grip,” he observed.
"But then I challenge my own thinking, by harkening back to her success on the US Open courts, which are typically not a lot slower than the ones at Wimbledon. She's been able to get full value out of her serve, she's been able to use her physicality and her athleticism, and her fighting spirit and competitiveness, to overcome those challenges.
"And she's tactically astute. So far be it from me to assume she won't be able to come up with some answers to those challenges.
"She's likely to be at the business end of the tournament yet again.”
Novak Djokovic
The 24-time major champion displayed incredible grit to work his way into the Roland Garros quarterfinals, despite struggling for form leading in, and then a knee injury once there.
It emerged he’d suffered a meniscus tear and he underwent immediate surgery in Paris.
A return in time for Wimbledon is a stretch, but Rea believes Djokovic may be eyeing glittering prizes beyond that.
“You wouldn't imagine that at anything less than 100 per cent, he would be willing to step onto the grass courts,” Rea said.
“In particular those early-round exchanges at Wimbledon, as perfect as those grass courts are … it can just be that little tricky underfoot. So you wouldn't think he would be willing to risk any kind of damage.
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"I imagine if he's there (at Wimbledon), he's absolutely fighting fit and ready to go, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's not. I think he'll be wanting to be at absolute full fitness before we see him again.
"The crowning glory, and the one missing piece on the mantelpiece, could be the Olympic gold medal. So I imagine that is looming large in his thinking."
The Paris 2024 Olympics tennis event is also at Roland Garros, beginning 27 July.
Jasmine Paolini
This week, Paolini was confirmed as a new top-10 player after progressing to her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros.
Rea was extremely impressed with what he saw from Paolini in Paris, and despite the fact the 28-year-old is yet to win a tour-level match on grass, Rea believes that could easily change this year.
“Wow, what a ball-striker. What weapons she's got. Talk about a power-packed athlete off both sides,” he commented.
“I think there's so much to admire about the fight she brings to the court, the intent that she has on the ball, the purpose she plays with; she seems like an athlete who all of a sudden has become incredibly clear on what she needs to maximise her chances, of being successful.
"I think in theory, her game translates really well to grass. She'll be feeling 10-foot-tall and bulletproof as she makes the transition. I don't think she's progressed beyond the first round at Wimbledon yet, but I think this can be the year. Ball-striking, power, aggression, court position; they lend themselves really favourably towards executing well on the grass.
“She's a force to be reckoned with in terms of the power she brings to the court. I love to watch her play.”