The rise of Jannik Sinner was a story built around many improving facets of his game, with the serve at the top of the list for his biggest improvements.
Roll the clock back to early 2023 and Sinner’s service motion looks very different from what it is now.
The Italian was serving with his back foot flat on the ground prior to his motion starting, with his highly respected coach Darren Cahill and his lead coach Simone Vagnozzi, deciding that he needed to change if he wanted to take his serve to a Grand Slam-winning level.
That starting position changed as he moved to a stance that saw his back heel elevated, which gave him more height as he reached up to the ball and allowed him to raise his service percentage and also, significantly, his service speed.
He has also tweaked the starting position of his racket, with his starting position now in front of his knee, with Sinner’s service motion now looks more classical than he had a couple of years ago.
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“One thing I did say is, ’The serve needs to improve. You’re six foot four and you’re a strong lad’,” Cahill told the ATP Tour last earlier this year.
“You need to be able to get more miles per hour on that first serve, better direction on that first serve. Then not only do you start winning some free points from your first serve, but also your Plus One becomes much more effective. If people can neutralise your serve, you have to work much harder for your points.’
“Then his questions came, one after the other… i’s typical of him. He wants to compete. He’s a competition animal. We’re seeing an incredible level of tennis at the moment, with Carlos (Alcaraz) and Jannik.
“If you look at their body of work over the past couple of years, they’ve separated themselves from the field. Now it’s up to the field to chase.”
Sinner appeared to be seperating himself from everyone in the men’s game, including Alcaraz, prior to this year’s US Open, but the shot that has helped to inspire his rise to world No 1 and Grand Slam glory started to show signs fo cracking in New York.
With his first serve percentage dropping, Sinner appeared to be searching for a shot that has come so naturally to him at the US Open and that allowed Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime to test him before he struggled again on his serve in the final against Alcaraz.
Giving his Spanish rival too many looks at second serves was a recipe for disaster and it was one of the key areas Sinner suggested he needed to improve as he reflected on the Alcaraz defeat in New York.
“I’m gonna change a couple of things on the serve, just small things, but, they can make big differences and then we see how it goes,” said Sinner.
“You know, I’m looking forward to playing these matches again, something new is now that I’m not number one anymore, so you know, this also changes a little bit for you. You chase, it’s different.”
Alcaraz’s most improved shot over the last year is probably his second serve, with the power and punch he has found on it making it tougher than ever to break him.
Throw in his beefed-up first serve, which saw him regularly hitting 130mph serves out wide to Sinner in the US Open final and you have a package that is hard to halt.
Sinner now needs to find the tweaks to his serve that allow him to keep pace with an improving Alcaraz and the joy of this rivalry appears to be that these two great champions are going to continue to push themselves to the next level time and again over the next few years.
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