Former ATP player Jimmy Connors talked about Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner following their 2024 US Open triumph, noting how they have a fear factor to them.
The 2024 US Open produced two new champions, both of whom had little trouble becoming so. On the women's side, Sabalenka smashed everybody en route to the trophy.
She dropped only one set against Ekaterina Alexandrova and faced minor trouble against Jessica Pegula in the final. Outside of that, it was a simple run for the former World No. 1 on the WTA Tour.
On the men's side, Sinner was the champion, and for the most part, he didn't face any trouble winning the trophy. He had some tricky matchups and dropped a set in some of the matches, but for the most part, he handled the pressure well, including the final match, in which he bested Taylor Fritz in straight sets.
Speaking after the event on his Advantage Connors podcast, the former world number one and leading men’s titleist in the Open Era, Connors explained how both Sinner and Sabalenka now have a fear factor to them.
Other players have a certain amount of fear when facing them due to how dominant they are.
"She doesn’t want to start neutral. She wants to be aggressive and try to take advantage of that at the very beginning and intimidate."
"So here’s my thought, Jannik Sinner and Sabalenka now have a fear factor, the other players fear them now. So what that means is, are they going to start winning matches before they even walk out there."
"The confidence, ‘I’ll play you for five hours if need be, whatever it takes, you’re going to have to figure out a way to beat me because hopefully I don’t beat myself."
Connors is not wrong in that because there is some truth in what we've seen. Alex Michelsen was beaten before he stepped onto the court against Jannik Sinner. He was never in the match, and we've also seen it with Sabalenka.
As good as she is, Qinwen Zheng was smashed easily by Sabalenka. There wasn't a moment in that match where that would suggest that the Chinese player could come back and win despite her trying literally everything.
It's a huge bonus for them as players because it just shows. In the men's final, the Italian was supremely calm and confident even when Fritz was playing amazing tennis.
That cold confidence is intimidating to play against because tennis is very mental. It decides who becomes a champion and who loses. According to Connors, it's the ultimate form of tennis because players have to work towards it to get to that stage where they win before stepping out onto the court.
"To me, that’s what great players work for. They have the game and they have the mentality and they have everything that goes along with winning matches but they have that little something extra that lets their opponent know that, 'You gotta kill me to beat me.' That’s something special and I think the two of them, Sinner and Sabalenka, now have that. That’s pretty special."
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