The Masters 1000 in Shanghai has crowned Jannik Sinner, who continues to be impressive this season and make history of Italian tennis. The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria has won the fourth Masters 1000 of his young career, the third in 2024, a testament to the incredible level achieved in the last 12 months.
The 2-time Grand Slam champion has proven himself to be the best player in the world at this moment, despite SpaniardCarlos Alcaraz winning two Grand Slam titles this year and the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. The Spanish ace has defeated Jannik three times this season, but had several ups and downs that have pushed him away from the top of the ATP ranking.
Despite the fact that several tournaments are still to be played at the end of the season, Sinner is already certain to finish the year as world number 1 and will be able to play with less pressure from here until November. The Italian champion will compete in the 'Six Kings Slam' this week and make his debut against Daniil Medvedev, who has been beaten in seven of the last eight matches played on the professional tour.
Ljubicic praises Sinner
In case of a victory against the Russian ace, Jannik would face Novak Djokovic again. The 24-time Grand Slam champion had to give up on Sinner in the final of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, despite doing everything possible to win his 100th title. In addition to the technical progresses made over the past year, Sinner has shocked everyone with its consistency throughout the season witnessed by the only six defeats suffered in 2024.
Yesterday in Shanghai there was the last success in time order of a hallucinating season, never even approached by an Italian tennis player in our history. Jannik Sinner is already in the blue tennis Olympus, but at only 23 years old he is just starting a career that can become legend.
Speaking of champions, yesterday the number one in the world faced and beat in the final a certain Novak Djokovic, in a match that seemed a definitive handover. The most successful player in history admitted that he could not have done much more against the worlds best player.
"It reminds me of myself in the course of my career, is what I did for many years with constancy, play a fast tennis, take time away from the opponent, suffocate him in a certain way. This year has been so consistent that it is really, really impressive," he admitted at the press conference.
Ivan Ljubicic, who spoke at the Trento Sports Festival on Skys microphones, praised the Italian champion and his incredible consistency shown in this 2024. The former tennis player, now a commentator, also made an interesting comparison between Jannik and the other phenomenon, Carlos Alcaraz: "The numbers speak clearly, at this moment he dominates and we hope for the Italian public that it does as long as possible".
"He has twice the points of Alcaraz even if they have won two Slams each and this gives the sense of his consistency absurd, which is the sign of the championships.Jannik and Carlos are very different as players, as character and as game type: Jannik is more constant and if we talk about the ranking will be ahead of Alcaraz on many aspects; maybe he does not have the spectacular shots of Alcaraz but has a tennis almost perfect" he specified.
One quality, even before the technical aspect impressed Ljubicic, humility, even after all these successes: "A guy so humble, wins a tournament like Shanghai beating Djokovic in the final and raises his arms as if to say 'tomorrow is another day and lets start again'. With this mentality he got where he got," he concluded.
Seven titles
The world number 1 has shown exceptional mental strength in recent months, considering that the doping case has absorbed many of his forces and stress has forced him to several sleepless nights. "I feel physically prepared to maintain a much higher intensity of play for longer than before. I have also made great progress in the mental aspect, accepting the adversities that arise and remaining calm to come out stronger the 2-time Grand Slam champion explained after his win in Shanghai.
I try to incorporate new elements into my game and maintain confidence in the process, even if there are defeats along the way. I have matured a lot, and I believe all of this will continue to help me next year he added. Janniks next big goal will be the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
