Sinner has had a fantastic season in 2024. He got nearly everything one can aspire for at the highest level: two Grand Slam titles, World No.1 ranking, and the year-end ATP Finals trophy. His presence on the tennis court was no less than a nightmare for his rivals. Clearly, they had no chance to give him an inch of trouble. After Casper Ruud weighed on the Fox’s ruthless style, a former ATP pro, and Hugues Laverdiere, emphasized a key trait that will define Fox’s career.

On November 19th episode of Serving Aces: Conversations with Alexandra Stevenson podcast, Hugues touched upon Sinner’s newfound strength is that he really hits the ball hard, no matter who he’s facing. “And that’s to me, that’s the most important thing of Sinner’s game right now, because that’s exactly how opponents are feeling because he’s hitting so hard,” said the former ATP pro.

Adding further, he mentioned that Sinner’s “opponents can’t breathe, they can’t just get into a rally. They feel like they’re missing opportunities to just having the time to rally. They’re under pressure all the time. And we’ve heard a lot of people this year start to saying that. I mean, Carlos Alcaraz has said that, Djokovic has said that, Nadal has said that before about Sinner.” Ruud echoed these sentiments.

Last week, Jannik Sinner defeated Ruud, 1-6, 2-6, in their SF round of the ATP Finals. During a post-match official press conference, Ruud was asked if he found Sinner to be similar to someone like Novak Djokovic in terms of dominance. “No, I don’t think so, in my opinion, because they play different tennis,” Ruud said when asked to compare the two. “I mean, I think on TV it looks probably similar the way they play. But Jannik hits a faster ball than Novak. He doesn’t let you breathe.”

Earlier this year, ahead of the Shanghai Masters final, Djoker had mentioned how tough it is to face Sinner. “He’s hitting his corners very well, and I think he (increased) his speed,” he said during a press conference, dated October 12th. Similarly, Alcaraz also said that Sinner’s “a beast” after their face-off in the China Open final in October. “The level that he’s playing, it’s unbelievable. It’s a really high quality of tennis,” he said.

On October 19th, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic faced off in their final Six Kings Slam match. Despite Nadal’s strong effort, Djokovic won 6-2, 7-6(5). The next day, in an interview with AS, Nadal discussed the emerging rivalry between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner and predicted them to be the future of tennis..

Hugues basically agrees with what Novak, Alcaraz, and Nadal have said about the Fox’s charismatic style. According to him, Jannik Sinner’s “trait” of hitting the ball hard is something he’s “going to be known for. He’s going to be hitting the hardest on forehands and backhands,” concluded the former American pro. Seems like there’s actually no one left on this planet who can match Sinner’s level. That’s what former Italian pro Adriano Panatta has also implied.

Adriano Panatta suggests to “look for an opponent in another galaxy” for Jannik Sinner

Per Panatta, he’s not seen anyone like the Italian in the past few years. The former ATP pro believes Sinner’s contemporaries are simply no match for him whatsoever. “We should look for an opponent in another galaxy because here on earth there is no one who can worry him. In these 50 years of tennis I have never seen such an evident supremacy over his opponents,” he said during an interview, dated November 18th.

Although he admitted, “At this moment perhaps Alcaraz if he plays at 100% can worry him, but Jannik managed to win the Finals without losing a set against the best in the world,” said Panatta. Continuing further, he mentioned that Sinner just demolishes his opponent. In other words, he gives them no hope of even a slight comeback. “He comes on the court and starts hammering you from the back of the court with everything. And with an extraordinary nervous endurance for his age,” he concluded.

Adriano had praised Sinner on a previous occasion as well while comparing him to tennis GOAT Rafael Nadal. While throwing light on the World No.1’s on-court dominance, he said “Maybe Nadal had the same impact on clay, but every now and then during the year he stumbled against a world number 20 or 30. Sinner never makes mistakes.” He thinks Sinner’s “superiority is something impressive” and he’s made it very evident with every successive event.

While this season has finished already, it will be interesting to see if Jannik Sinner will continue to reign supreme in 2025 as well. His next target will be the Australian Open, where he will return as a defending champion. Undoubtedly, the two-time Grand Slam winner will look to increase his tally to three. Do you think he will succeed in defending his AO title? Let us know in the comments below.