Can Anyone Stop Jannik Sinner on Hard Courts?

As Jannik Sinner prepares for a return to the hard courts of Cincinnati, where he is the defending champion, the question begs to be answered: Can anyone stop the World No. 1?

The answer, unfortunately for the rest of the Tour, is probably not. The Italian has now gone almost an entire year since his last defeat on a hard court. No prizes for guessing who that was against, Carlos Alcaraz, who, up until the Wimbledon final, looked to be Sinner’s kryptonite.

Sinner the hardcourt machine

His hard court record since the beginning of Cincinnati last year is an incredible 37-1, including a Major title defence in Australia.

In 2024, Sinner won an impressive seven hard-court Tour-level titles, including two Major titles and the ATP Finals. He went 53-3 for the year, dominance only seen before by the big three. Only one player, not named Alcaraz, defeated him on his beloved hard court.

A cheat code

It’s as though Sinner has found a cheat code that allows him to play usually low-percentage shots as inexplicably high-percentage shots. His timing, power, and ball striking are almost robotic-like, and it makes you wonder how anyone can beat him.

What’s unique about Sinner is how much power he can generate using his seemingly superhuman wrist strength and mobility. Every shot is hit with the same purpose, with an error margin that dwarfs almost every champion of the past.

Similar to prime Novak Djokovic, he doesn’t even have a weakness that an opponent can target. People might have questioned his mental strength after the spectacle that was the Roland Garros final—when he lost one of the greatest matches of all time, after having Championship points of his own, to arch rival Alcaraz.

But where many would have dwelled on such a devastating loss, Sinner bounced back in style—avenging that defeat on clay to beat two-time defending champion Alcaraz to win Wimbledon for the first time, just weeks later.

Who can beat Sinner?

While of course, no player in the history of the sport has ever been completely unstoppable, not many have come as close as the 23-year-old.

It’s fair to say nobody will go into a match against Sinner on a hard court as the favorite for a long, long time. Time appears to have finally caught up with Djokovic, and the Sinner matchup is stylistically a nightmare for the 24-time Grand Slam champion.

Simply put, Sinner does everything better than Djokovic. Their recent matches at Roland Garros and Wimbledon have been like watching Djokovic play his younger self. It would be interesting to see a prime Djokovic play Sinner, but right now, the Serbian would likely need to produce one of his best-ever performances to defeat the Italian.

Ben Shelton, fresh off his first-ever Masters 1000 title, might have the weaponry to beat Sinner, although their head-to-head suggests otherwise. After Shelton won their first meeting, Sinner has won six in a row against the American.

Alcaraz is undoubtedly the most likely to beat him, and the two are projected to meet in the Cincinnati final if things go as expected. With Sinner finally snapping his losing streak against him, he will be hoping to go back-to-back against the Spaniard for the first time since 2023, should they meet.