Jannik Sinner targets clay and grass success amid doping appeal
The Italian successfully defended his Australian Open crown to win his third grand slam title.
Jannik Sinner expects it to take some time before he can replicate his dominance on hard courts at Wimbledon.
The world number one made it three grand slam titles in a row on his favourite surface by successfully defending his Australian Open crown with a straight-sets victory over Alexander Zverev.
Sinner has not lost a match for nearly four months and dropped just two sets at Melbourne Park, with his only real moments of alarm coming in the fourth round against Holger Rune, when he was not feeling well and struggled in the heat.
The 23-year-old’s next major hurdle is a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in April that could see him banned following two positive doping tests last March.
He was cleared of blame by the initial investigation but that was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
If Sinner is allowed to compete over the summer, his main target will be to try to win a first grand slam title on either clay or grass courts. So far his best runs at the French Open and Wimbledon have been one semi-final each.
“Of course, on hard court I feel more comfortable,” said the Italian. “I think that we can see. But I take it as positive because on the other surfaces, I still have to improve, I have to see how it works.
“I’m going to put a lot of energy into that, trying to find the right ways, and hopefully to go far also in the other grand slams who are not played on hard court.
“I’m still young and I think I have time to adjust, especially on grass court, because I never played the juniors. It was kind of new when I arrived to the tour. It’s exactly what I like. The difficulties trying to understand where I can improve.
“You have to be a complete player, not only one surface. I believe last year was not a bad season at all on clay and also on grass. I can do better, yes, but let’s see.
“For sure we are aiming to get into this rhythm, into the game style, because it’s a bit different game style, especially on grass, because it’s a bit different, the movement.”
Sinner matched his big rival Carlos Alcaraz by winning his first three grand slam finals and is now only one behind the Spaniard, with the pair having claimed five major titles in a row between them.
Both, of course, remain a long way behind 24-time slam champion Novak Djokovic, but Sinner’s coach Simone Vagnozzi believes his young charge could post similar numbers in the future.
“He’s still young,” said Vagnozzi. “He has already won three tournaments. You never know what’s going to happen in the future but for sure he is the guy that tries to improve every day, going on court, in practice, and trying to put new things in his game, trying to improve physically.
“So I think he’s one of the guys that can reach the top level. When we speak about top level, we think about Novak, about Roger (Federer) or Rafa (Nadal). We are still long way, but for sure he is one of the guys that can try to reach this kind of player.”
The Melbourne victory was especially significant because it is set to be the final Australian Open for his other coach, Australian Darren Cahill, who plans to retire at the end of the year.
“I got very lucky to find Darren, to find Simone and all the rest of the team,” added Sinner. “We try to keep working, keep believing, and that’s it.”
