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Jannik Sinner's ability to adapt to surfaces should scare his opponents
Jannik Sinner. Susan Mullane-Imagn Images

Jannik Sinner's ability to adapt to surfaces should scare his opponents

Jannik Sinner won 30 out of 40 of his net points, while Carlos Alcaraz — known for his aggressive instincts — approached the net only 23 times in their Wimbledon finals showdown on Sunday.

Now, compare that to Sinner's loss to Daniil Medvedev in last year's Wimbledon quarterfinal, when he approached the net only 15 times in a five-setter that lasted four hours. The Italian attacked the net 25 more times on Sunday in a match that barely reached the three-hour mark. 

Sinner's ability to reimagine his game to excel on grass, where players are rewarded for taking risks, is nothing short of extraordinary. The 23-year-old was once pigeonholed as a defensive baseliner who tires out opponents with long rallies, which is why he won his first three majors on hard courts, a surface that suits his skillset.

Now that Sinner has conquered grass, he has the playbook to consistently challenge for the Wimbledon crown in the coming years — an ominous sign for his opponents. It was only a matter of time. Since the ball zips around faster on grass, Sinner — who hits the ball at hyper speed, per his opponents — always had the potential to dominate on the surface, as long as he was willing to play more aggressively. 

Mind you, Sinner also made adjustments to his game to thrive on clay at last month's French Open, where he had three championship points in the fourth set before Alcaraz made a miraculous recovery. Essentially, he was a few mishits away from going three for three at slams this year after his dominant Australian Open win.

Sinner now walks into the U.S. Open as the overwhelming favorite to repeat, a year after he dropped two sets en route to the title. The World No. 1 is living his dream, but it must be a nightmare for his opponents to face him right now. He's as close to invincible as it gets.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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