One of Italy’s former tennis players has compared Jannik Sinner to an all-time great.
The 23-year-old is having one of the best individual seasons in ATP Tour history and he is aiming to finish it in style.
In 2024 he has claimed two Grand Slam titles and gained the World number one ranking, and has lost just five matches across the year.
The Italian is quickly establishing himself as his country’s best ever player and his achievements on court remind two-time French Open winner Nicola Pietrangeli of one of tennis’s greatest exports.
Which tennis player does Jannik Sinner remind Nicola Pietrangeli of?
2023 was a transformational year for Jannik Sinner as he claimed his first Masters 1000 title and claimed his first two wins over Novak Djokovic to end his season at the ATP Finals and Davis Cup respectively.
This gave Sinner confidence he could beat the best and he began 2024 by beating Djokovic for a third time at the Australian Open, before going on to win his first Grand Slam at Melbourne Park.
After watching Sinner’s success this year Pietrangeli says Sinner reminds him of Pete Sampras, who dominated tennis throughout the 1990’s and won 14 Grand Slam titles.
“Jannik has the mental strength of the greatest champions. And in some ways he reminds me of Sampras,” the 91-year-old is quoted as saying by Ubitennis.com.
“Sinner is now the strongest of all, the numbers and the level of his tennis show it, in my opinion when he is well he is unbeatable. Perhaps only Carlos Alcaraz can bother him, for the others I don’t see any chance.
“In the next few years I foresee a duel with the Spaniard to win the most important tournaments. The others are far from their level, especially now that [Novak] Djokovic, due to his age, is inevitably declining. I would have liked to see Sinner with the Big Three at their best, we would have seen some great things.”
Which Italian tennis records has Jannik Sinner broken?
Sinner has broken several Italian tennis records following some of his achievements in 2024.
In January he became the first Italian man to win the Australian Open and second Italian man in the Open Era to win a major after Adriano Panatta claimed the 1976 French Open.
Sinner also became the first Italian man to win the US Open and first player from his country on the ATP Tour to have won multiple Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era.
Furthermore, in June Sinner became the 29th World number one in ATP history and he is the only Italian player male or female to achieve this feat.
Sinner also helped Italy win their first Davis Cup title since 1976 when he played a starring role in their wins over Serbia and Australia to take the title in November 2023.
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