Novak Djokovic has been urged to disrupt Jannik Sinner\u2019s \u201cvery high tempo\u201d should they cross paths at this year\u2019s French Open title.<\/p>\n
According to Toni Nadal, who coached his nephew Rafael Nadal<\/a> for much of his glittering career, Djokovic<\/a> was able to throw the Italian off his rhythm in their 2025 French Open<\/a> semi-final clash.<\/p>\n Sinner won that encounter 6-4 7-5 7-6 (3) on Philippe Chatrier just under a year ago, in what was a commanding display from the 6ft 3in player.\u00a0<\/span>But Toni Nadal<\/a> thinks the Serbian was onto something, despite his straight-set loss, and wants him to make Sinner play slower.<\/p>\n Last year, Djokovic<\/a> did seem to run out of steam as his run to the last four took its toll. However, solving that issue for the soon-to-be 39-year-old is another matter entirely.<\/p>\n The Spaniard said on Radioestadio Noche, \u201cI think the one who played well against him was Djokovic last year, when he played a slightly slower game with slightly higher balls.<\/p>\n Wimbledon: Should Novak Djokovic skip French Open after latest Carlos Alcaraz news?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Novak Djokovic raises fears over what he is \u2018missing\u2019 heading into French Open<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear that what Sinner does best is play at a very high tempo, and let\u2019s not forget that, if we have to classify Medvedev among clay-court players, he isn\u2019t in the top 10.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember his frustration at playing on clay, but he\u2019s no [David] Ferrer, [Andy] Murray<\/a>, [Stan] Wawrinka or [Juan Martin] Del Potro \u2013 on clay, I mean. He gave Sinner a bit of a run for his money, but in sport everything can change overnight.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to look at the calibre of the players you\u2019re up against. And I remember that last year Djokovic clearly put Sinner under pressure. Anything can happen, and the players coming up behind must fight as if it were the match of their lives. And then we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n Going by those last comments, Uncle Toni seemed to suggest that the standard of opposition Sinner will face in his bid to win his first Roland Garros is not as strong as decades gone by. Indeed, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> is out injured.<\/p>\n Incidentally, it may be more prudent for Djokovic to draw on his\u00a0Australian Open<\/a> semi-final win over Sinner earlier this year, rather than his defeat in the 2025 French Open.<\/p>\n The 24-time major winner produced some extraordinary tennis to beat the 24-year-old in a five-set thriller, before losing to Alcaraz in the final Down Under.<\/p>\n Djokovic will need to be injury-free and as fresh as possible to stand a chance of earning his 25th Grand Slam. But that still may not be enough to deny world No 1 Sinner.<\/p>\n READ MORE: French Open: Novak Djokovic told he \u2018could lose to anyone\u2019 by former world No 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Toni Nadal suggests strategy for Novak Djokovic to knock Jannik Sinner off his rhythm at French Open<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novak Djokovic has been urged to disrupt Jannik Sinner\u2019s \u201cvery high tempo\u201d should they cross paths at this year\u2019s French Open title. According to Toni Nadal, who coached his nephew Rafael Nadal for much of his glittering career, Djokovic was able to throw the Italian off his rhythm in their 2025 French Open semi-final clash. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Tennis News<\/strong><\/h2>\n