How Jannik Sinner's Top 10 turnaround has sparked his rapid rise

How Sinner's Top 10 turnaround has sparked his rapid rise

Italian is chasing his first major title

January 25, 2024

Jannik Sinner will play Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals. By ATP Staff

Jannik Sinner, who at the Australian Open is two wins from capturing his first major title, is soaring higher than ever. A big reason why is the Italian’s performance against the best players in the world.

Entering the 2023 season, Sinner owned a 9-21 record against players inside the Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Since then, everything has changed.

Last year, Sinner went 13-6 against the Top 10. According to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, only Novak Djokovic held a better record (17-5) against the elite group. Previously, the Italian had owned a 9-21 Top 10 mark.

The 22-year-old has won 10 of his past 11 Top 10 matches, including two victories against Djokovic and three against Daniil Medvedev, two of the other Australian Open semi-finalists.

Just two other players in 2023 earned a winning record against the Top 10 and both men — Carlos Alcaraz (64.7%) and Medvedev (60%) — have reached World No. 1. Sinner has earned plenty of respect from his colleagues. After advancing to the semi-finals, Medvedev reflected on the potential of facing 10-time Australian champion Djokovic or Sinner in the final.

“The thing is Jannik is playing so good now,” Medvedev said. “If I'm 100 per cent honest with you, if you ask me who — let's say I'm in the final — who do I want to play, Novak, who never lost here, whatever, is going for some crazy stats, or Jannik, who is not losing a set even when he's 5/1 down in the tie-break and stuff like this, I don't know. I really don't know.”

It has not just been that Sinner has beaten the best players — he has done so in critical matches. Four of Sinner's late-2023 triumphs helped him secure ATP 500 trophies in Beijing and Vienna, while four came at the Nitto ATP Finals, where the Italian thrilled the Turin fans en route to the championship clash, where Djokovic earned revenge for a round-robin defeat.

Here we go, #AusOpen first semi-final is set ????@DjokerNole ???? @janniksin

Dare to predict this one? ????@AustralianOpen pic.twitter.com/3kPH5ab3yt

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 23, 2024

Sinner has not lost a set en route to the semi-finals of the Australian Open. No other competitor in the men’s singles draw made it to the quarter-finals without losing a set. Djokovic has dropped three sets, while Medvedev and Zverev have lost six each.

The fourth seed Sinner will try to narrow his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Djokovic, who currently leads their budding rivalry 4-2. 

"This is what I practise for, to play against the best players in the world," Sinner said. "Obviously [Novak] has an incredible record here, so for me it's a pleasure to play against him, especially in the final stages of the tournament where things are a little bit more interesting."

If Sinner defeats Djokovic, he will not only add to his Top 10 hot streak, but the 10-time ATP Tour titlist will become the second Italian man in history to reach the Australian Open semi-finals (Berrettini, 2022). Sinner can also climb as high as No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings if he wins his first major title at Melbourne Park.