Jannik Sinner with his resounding victory against Novak Djokovic has earned high praise from tennis critics and fans and among that is former Grand Slam champion John McEnroe.
The Italian was a man on mission as he crashed the Djokovic party to reach the first major final of his career. McEnroe was shocked by Djokovic’s level and at the same time was stunned by the Sinner’s movement.
“The changing of the guard – when was that going to happen? We keep waiting for it. Djokovic has played Sinner, [Carlos] Alcaraz, he’s risen to the occasion. And he was inspired, he said, by these players,” McEnroe said on Eurosport.
“When I played those young kids like [Pete] Sampras and [Andre] Agassi, I was inspired to stop playing quickly, because those guys were too good, so I give Djokovic a lot of credit.
“But I was amazed at how flat he came out and how it was Sinner – when would you have thought that Sinner would move – for me – better than Novak Djokovic in a best-of-five-set match.
“So I was super impressed after he had match point and lost, that he was still able to gather himself and pull this out, really pretty convincingly in the fourth.
“I think he showed more than anything his mental toughness. To be that close and taste it, and Djokovic had the crowd getting into it, and here you go again with a guy that’s won it ten times. Now what?
“And he stepped right back up as if it hadn’t even happened; as if he won the tie-breaker. So I was super impressed that he pulled it together that quickly.
McEnroe, a 7-time Grand Slam champion himself, was sure that that 22-year-ood wasn’t asleep by the time his Australian Open final opponent was settled, despite the fact that it was a five-set marathon between Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.
“I would bet my life savings that he was up to see who won that match [between Medvedev and Zverev],” McEnroe made the remrk about the World No. 4.
“He didn’t go to bed, he was glued to see who he would play in the final.”
Former British No 1 Tim Henman thinks that Sinner is the most improved player on the men’s tour right now while Carlos Alcaraz deserves the title of best young star.
“Alcaraz is the most complete player, but Sinner, no doubt, is the most improved player,” Henman said.
“His results in the last four to five months have been absolutely phenomenal. His record against top ten players – he’s only lost once of ten matches.
“He goes into this final with so much confidence.”