Novak Djokovic has undoubtedly been one of the most consistent tennis players in the last couple of years. His accolades make him one of the greatest ever to grace the sport along with the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal forming the much-fabled ‘Big Three’. The Serb continued his exceptional form when he clinched the Australian Open title earlier this year.
Djokovic recently lauded a youngster who has been making all the right noises in his short career. It is none other than Italian prodigy Jannik Sinner. The youngster has shown immense growth and development and it must be a dream come true for a player like him to be noticed by the current World No.1 and an absolute legend of the game.
Sinner is only a teenager and has shown maturity beyond his years and is already considered a real talent who can dominate the sport in a few years. Following the 19-year-old’s progress, Djokovic said, “Ya great tournament for the young guys. Both Sinner and Hurkacz played a fantastic tournament. They beat some big names on the road to the finals. Sinner has been so consistent for the last year and a half… If not the leader, he’s definitely one of the leaders of the next generation coming up.”
The Italian has shown great mental strength and versatility to adapt to different conditions at such a young age. Therefore Djokovic feels that Sinner can be a leader in the sport and may fight for all the accolades very soon. “He’s got all the guns in his game that he needs to be a challenger for the greatest titles in the sport. He’s playing equally well on clay and hard court and other surfaces, so that’s great to see. He’s very mature with the way he plays and behaves on the court,” Djokovic heaped praises while adding more about the talented Italian.
Jannik has been consistent this season as he reached his first ATP Masters 1000 finals at the Miami Open where he lost to Polish youngster Hubert Hurkacz. But still, he had lots of positives to work on and will be only looking to improve. With the clay-court season incoming, Sinner will again look to live up to the expectations.
