World No.67 Pedro Martinez believes tennis has become much more “direct” and said that Jannik Sinner was the “biggest example” of how the sport has changed since the era of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
The so-called ‘Big Three’ dominated tennis for decades, winning 66 of 83 Grand Slam titles between 2003 and 2023, but with just Djokovic left, the game has moved on a lot since they were on the court.
The next generation is being led by Sinner and his rival Carlos Alcaraz but ATP Tour player Martinez believes the sport itself has changed, with play being a lot more “flat” and “direct.”
“I think everything is going faster,” Martinez exclusively told Tennis365.com. “Most of the players, they play good with the backhand, with the forehand, and they play flat, normally direct tennis.
“You don’t see as many rallies or a lot of changes in the speed of the ball. You don’t see that much the slice. Players are going much more to the net so it’s becoming more fast and then it’s flat. Within four or five shots, and the point is done.”
On this new style, Martinez believes that Sinner is the biggest example of a player looking to end a point early with power and pace.
“So you see Sinner, that’s the biggest example of the modern style,” he said.
“So you have to be prepared for that and to be ready to be fast on the first balls. I think that’s the most important thing.
“Before you could see like more tactics. People were building more points, opening the court, playing high to the backhand and to the other, then stepping in.
“Now it’s so fast. That’s the biggest change. Myself I like to play more like before.”
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Players are also asked to feature in an increasing number of tournaments but Martinez believes they can also be smart about choosing which ones to play in.
“I play a lot of tournaments, but I didn’t play a lot of matches,” he said. “So I think it’s something that you have to choose.
“Maybe if you play well in one tournament and you play five matches, it’s more in one week than maybe you play five tournaments and you don’t play well, and in five weeks you play six matches. So it’s not that much at all.
“But now with the two-week Masters 1000, the calendar is longer. More days in the tournaments but I mean you can choose if you want to play or not. You can prepare for some tournaments. You can practice. It’s something that you have to choose.
“There are some mandatory tournaments you have to go. Maybe you can skip one or two of them, you get some penalties, but then it’s in your hands to choose which 500 you want to play.”
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The post Why ‘faster’ Jannik Sinner is ‘the biggest example’ of key change from Nadal, Federer and Djokovic era appeared first on Tennis365.
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