With a new career-high ranking of No.4, Jannik Sinner is progressing steadily towards the top of men’s tennis.
Season 2023 has been a year of ticking boxes for Sinner, with the latest achievement being his win over Daniil Medvedev in the China Open final, breaking a 0-6 hoodoo against the world No.3.
The 7-6(2) 7-6(2) victory over Medvedev capped off a spectacular tournament run and saw Sinner claim his ninth career title.
Speaking on The AO Show podcast, former Australian player Nicole Pratt felt Sinner was doing all the right things to make the jump into the top echelon of men’s tennis.
LISTEN: Sinner's China Open breakthrough dissected on The AO Show
“It’s becoming harder and harder to find the weaknesses out on court,” said Pratt of the Italian’s solid all-round game.
“With seasoned winners of titles, you have to learn how you are going to beat them and it takes a few times to figure that out.”
Beijing is Sinner’s third title of the year, after his ATP 250 win in Montpellier and his maiden Masters 1000 victory in Toronto.
His consistent year has seen him record an 86 percent win rate, giving him the highest win percentage of any Italian male in the Open Era over a calendar year.
Despite a career-best Grand Slam semifinal result at Wimbledon this year, an appearance in a major final would undoubtedly be the box Sinner is desperate to tick next – a distinct possibility given his trajectory and highly professional work ethic.
“Sinner’s definitely in that category of always reviewing the matches he’s played and where he needs to improve upon,” Pratt said. “You constantly see him in the gym working.”
In consecutive matches, Sinner defeated two top-three players in Beijing, beating world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz to set up the final against Medvedev.
He is now the only player to have beaten Alcaraz on four occasions, a confidence boost heading into important matches in future Grand Slams.
“The game is played between the ears a lot of the time, and they are juniors, they’ve been rivals since juniors,” Pratt noted.
“We see that a lot – there’s some carryover when they played against each other in juniors then someone will get (more) success out on tour than someone behind, but when they actually play each other, we see a flip.”
SINNER v ALCARAZ: "Their quality is just phenomenal"
The 22-year-old is starting to prove he has the all-important mental strength to match up with anyone on tour.
After the Beijing final, Sinner spoke about that resilience.
"I had to overcome some tough challenges and I'm very proud of myself, how I handled the situations,” he said.
“It has been awesome."