Andy Roddick admits what he’s got ‘completely wrong’ about Jannik Sinner after he wins the Australian Open title

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Jannik Sinner has proven some people wrong after winning his second consecutive Australian Open title.

Sinner made history by doing so, as he continues his dominance on hard courts after winning two Australian Open’s and the US Open over the past year.

The Italian has received much praise for this achievement, with Rafael Nadal messaging Sinner following his victory over Alexander Zverev.

After the match, Zverev called Sinner by far the best player in the world, particularly emphasising the strength of his game on hard courts.

Zverev even compared Sinner to Novak Djokovic, who exited the Australian Open at the semi-final stage this year after retiring due to a leg injury.

Andy Roddick admits what he got wrong about Jannik Sinner

Sinner exploited Zverev’s game in the Australian Open final and beat the world number two in straight sets.

Following the conclusion of the final, Andy Roddick spoke on his podcast about how impressed he has been by Sinner’s ball-striking and admitted that he had previously underestimated it.

“His margin is still safe,” said Roddick. “Andre [Agassi] is the best ball striker I have ever seen in my life and when he red lined it, he still hit a flat ball, especially on the forehand, maybe not so much on the backhand where he would create so much margin but Sinner’s ball has that C, even when he’s hitting it massive. It means he is hitting it safe.

“And it’s not like a Rafa thing where he hits masses of topspin and it bounces and floats over and it’s really heavy. This is hard through the court consistently but it seems like he has margin.

“I would have been wrong because I would have told you five years ago that he has that kind of laid back rubber band where he slings it back real quick and then slings it through. I would have told you that is going to be hard to time up under pressure over and over again.

“And I would have been completely wrong because his preparation is so quick, even with that lag on the forehand where you create that margin. Guys in the past you would see those extreme layoffs, you would think if I hit with enough pace I can get at that and maybe they are hitting some foul balls. He’s not like that.”

Jannik Sinner winner and unforced error stats at the Australian Open

Despite Sinner only dropping two sets in his run to the Australian Open title, the world number one did have high unforced error counts in some of his matches.

This is particularly highlighted by his third round match against Marcos Giron, where he hit 37 unforced errors and had a negative differential.

Whereas his lowest unforced error count came in the first round against Nicolas Jarry, with Sinner only hitting 12 unforced errors in three sets.

Sinner was supposed to defend his title in Rotterdam, where Carlos Alcaraz is playing for the first time, but has elected to withdraw after his Australian Open victory.