Jannik Sinner’s 2024 season is one for the books! The Italian star has blazed through the year, finishing as the leader on the ATP ranking table and cementing his place among tennis’s elite. With the new season around the corner, Sinner isn’t just chasing more titles—he’s chasing greatness. While fans can’t get enough of Sinner’s meteoric rise, the tennis fraternity is buzzing too. And who better to weigh in on his brilliance than his compatriot and fellow tennis star Matteo Berrettini who has sparked an exciting conversation by drawing a comparison between Sinner and the Serbian Maestro, Novak Djokovic.

The World No. 1 star capped a sensational year by winning the Davis Cup title with his team. He demonstrated quite an extraordinary performance by not just winning two Grand Slams in Australia and the United States, but also the ATP Finals in Turin. Now, as he gears up for more stellar performances, he is witnessing some immense admiration from none other than his compatriot, Berrettini. 

Berrettini engaged in an interaction with Sky Sports for its Federico Buffa Talks show, which was aired on December 27. Some excerpts from the interview were shared by journalist and editor-in-chief of UBI Tennis, Giovanni Pelazzo on X, who highlighted Berrettini’s statement about Sinner and Djokovic. The 28-year-old made a remarkable comparison between the two highlighting how both have been similarly troubling their opponents.

Speaking in the interview, Berrettini said, “What Jannik does in an excellent way is what Novak also does: they take you to your limit, then once they’ve taken you there they don’t say ‘ok’, they say ‘good, now hold it for three hours, let’s see if you can do it’.” Continuing further, he added, “This is something that very few people do. And in fact the games they lose are few.” Interestingly, this is not the first time when Berrettini has made such a remark and drawn a comparison between the two.

In 2021, Berrettini made a similar statement and claimed that Sinner is in fact more aggressive than Nole. “I would like to say monochord but it is not the right definition. Let’s say that Jannik plays a little more like Djokovic, but he is more aggressive than Nole. He tries to play more,” he said. The latest comparison, meanwhile, cannot be ignored given the kind of season both players have witnessed. 

For the unversed, Sinner played 79 matches this year and won 73 of them, with a victory percentage of almost 92. Djokovic, on the other hand, won 37 of the 46 matches he played, taking his victory percentage to over 80. While the Serb did not win many accolades, he depicted immense resilience by lifting the runner-up title at Wimbledon soon after his knee surgery and clinching the prestigious Olympic Gold. Hence, the comparison between the two is quite notable. Interestingly, Berrettini is not the only player to be lauding Sinner and comparing him to Nole, as a remarkable claim was also made by Angelo Binaghi, the president of the Italian Tennis Federation.

Jannik Sinner dubbed to surpass Novak Djokovic’s Grand Slam record

Jannik Sinner won two Grand Slam titles this year alone. With a remarkable record under his name, he would be eyeing to dominate the courts next season as well.  Ahead of his season, expectations are quite high for him, and making a bold prediction about his career is the president of the Italian Tennis Federation, Angelo Binaghi.

Speaking about Sinner, Binaghi said, “How many Grand Slams can Sinner win? He won two in one year, and he has a 15-year gap to Djokovic. With two a year, he could reach 30. It may seem excessive, but taking an average between Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic is a good target to aim for.” However, Binaghi also discussed the potential challenge that will lie ahead of Sinner. 

“It doesn’t matter how many he achieves. The real problem is how long we can keep him in perfect shape. You don’t need to see the points he scores or the number of tournaments he wins; you need to monitor his health,” he added. While only time will tell how true the prediction will turn out to be, one thing is clear: Sinner would definitely be determined to give a tough time to his opponents on the courts.