Former Italian ATP player Adriano Panatta has high praise for Jannik Sinner after his tremendous start in 2024, even going as far as to call Novak Djokovic outdated.
As an Italian, Panatta is obviously going to side with Sinner on most things, but he's not always been complimentary to the Italian players. The former player can be pretty harsh, and he's criticized players in the past.
However, he praised Sinner quite a bit after the Italian put together an impressive performance this year to win three significant trophies already, including his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
Speaking with RAI, Panatta described Sinner as a player who invented a new game that makes even Djokovic, and especially the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, look quite outdated.
"Have you ever trained with a ball throwing machine? The ball throwing machine, as you know, never makes mistakes. Jannik invented a new game. Even Djokovic already seems outdated today, not to mention Federer or Nadal. These players are already part of the past. But not because they resigned, but because their game no longer corresponds to what is needed today."
It's an interesting perspective from Panatta, who will certainly find some agreeing with him and plenty disagreeing with him. It's not that different from any other opinion, but Panetta feels strongly about Sinner's qualities.
He's mostly fascinated by how hard his fellow Italian hits the ball and how few mistakes he makes by doing that, and others have noted that as well.
"I’ll even say a word to you. Even Federer at his best would have had a lot of trouble with Sinner because Jannik hits too hard, I’ve never seen him hit that hard, come on."
It has certainly worked well for him so far, and opponents will need to find solutions to that. Carlos Alcaraz had it at the Indian Wells Open.
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