'Jannik Sinner, Serial Winner': How The World #1 Became A Byword For Success

Indeed, in the wake of Sinner’s latest Major triumph, which consolidated his already huge lead at the top of the world rankings, it was possible to speculate that he could be the dominant World No.1 for the foreseeable future. It may be that only his April encounter with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which has appealed against the decision by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to exonerate him completely for twice failing drug tests last year, can stop him. If he avoids a ban there, or at least a long-term ban that rules him out of multiple Majors, he could even improve upon his 2024 record of winning two Grand Slam tournaments and begin to compete seriously for the titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

How Has He Done It?

As is always the way with any successful athlete, there are multiple reasons why Sinner has become so successful. His pedigree was certainly impeccable, as he won numerous youth tournaments in Italy before winning the Next Gen event in Milan in 2019. However, in the last 18 months or so he has really begun to exhibit what might be called his three special powers, or even superpowers.

No.1: His Serve

At the start of the 2025 Australian Open, Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner’s closest rival in men’s tennis, joked that he might have become a “Servebot” after focusing so much on improving his serve during the recent off-season. However, if anyone has become a “Servebot” over the last year or so, it is Sinner, not Alcaraz.

It was at the end of 2023, when Sinner first enjoyed a superb Asian swing and then led Italy to the Davis Cup for the first time in nearly half a century, that the tennis world really began to see the benefits of all the work that he had been doing with Darren Cahill to improve his serve. Relatively speaking, it had always been Sinner’s weakest stroke, at least in comparison to his stellar forehand and backhand. However, Sinner and Cahill focused on it, remodelled it and now it is arguably the single best stroke in men’s tennis, or, at the very least, the most improved.

That was evident against Zverev in this year’s Melbourne final. The German is rightly regarded as one of the great contemporary servers, but actually it was Sinner’s serve that was most effective during the match. For all the myriad statistics that surround serving, the single most important one to emerge from the Australian Open final was that Sinner had not given up a single break-point to Zverev throughout their whole encounter. That is not just great serving, but Major-winning serving.

No.2: His Strength (Especially His Mental Strength)

The fact that Sinner’s performances only seem to have improved since the revelation that he had failed two drug tests is probably the ultimate proof of his sheer strength of will, or mental strength. He would argue, as he has done, that it is precisely because he believes he is innocent (a view that WADA contests) that it has been so easy for him to keep playing at an incredibly high level.

Nevertheless, the fact that he has been able to thrive under the syringe-shaped shadow that is hanging over him is remarkable. It shows that he possesses one of the most important qualities that any sportsperson can have: single-mindedness. In modern coaching parlance, he has been able to “ignore the outside noise” and focus completely on his own game.

That single-mindedness is also evident in his game style. Alcaraz may have more strokes, but Sinner arguably uses fewer strokes to greater effect. In short, he may be maximizing his talent in a way that even the great Alcaraz has been unable to so far. Sinner’s success mirrors the mental focus of tennis recent “big three” Champions, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, along with the WTA Legend Serena Williams.

No. 3: His Ski-ing Background

While the importance of Sinner’s serve and mental strength may be obvious, the same is probably not true of his background in ski-ing. And yet as his career progresses, there is increasing evidence that the core training, in every sense, that he did as a skier may be yielding enormous rewards on the tennis court.

In both skiing and tennis, the importance of retaining balance is paramount. In particular, they share an emphasis on lateral movement, with a skier continually shifting their body to one side or another as they hurtle downhill or around slalom gates, just as a tennis player shuttles along the baseline, ideally making it their own, as Sinner so often does.

In the future, there will doubtless be more empirical evidence to show why learning to ski can be beneficial for a tennis player. For now, the mere fact that Sinner has followed so smoothly and so quickly in the tracks of Novak Djokovic, another promising skier as a child, is highly suggestive that excellence in skiing translates well to excellence in tennis.

Will He Remain a Serial Winner?

The outcome of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing in April will be crucial not only for Sinner but for men’s tennis in general. If he is cleared completely, without being banned, he may feel sufficiently liberated to improve even further and become even more dominant. However, if he is banned, even for a short period, he is likely to miss a Major or two and then his rivals would be able to close the gap on him at the top of the world rankings. The CAS hearing will take place privately on the 16th and 17th of April.

However, until we have the certainty that the CAS hearing will hopefully provide, one other thing is certain. Jannik Sinner has become such a supremely skilful and consistent tennis player that his name is fast becoming a byword for success.