Jannik Sinner is hoping to stop Carlos Alcaraz dominating the ATP Tour in 2026.
Sinner had a relatively disappointing start to the season, having failed to reach the final of either the Australian Open or the Qatar Open.
While the Italian has not been at his best, Alcaraz has not lost a match so far this year.
Sinner has reached the Indian Wells semifinals without dropping a set, but Brad Gilbert believes that he still needs to improve one area of his game to stop the dominance of Alcaraz.
Brad Gilbert suggests Jannik Sinner can be too predictable
Gilbert, who is the former coach of Coco Gauff, was full of praise for Sinner when speaking about him on The Big T Podcast.
Sinner, who Gilbert predicted to win Indian Wells earlier on in the podcast, was compared to both Andre Agassi and Novak Djokovic in the way that he had been playing at the tournament so far this year.
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However, Gilbert also suggested that Sinner can sometimes be a bit predictable with his ball speeds, which is not a problem that Alcaraz has.
“I feel like what he’s doing really well so far this tournament is after he’s hitting his spot on the first serve, he’s instantly taking that lead to the open court,” said Gilbert. “Whether that’s on the forehand or on the backhand, a little Agassi like, a little Djokovic like, where it’s hit it’s spot, you know you’re going to be on your bicycle.
“And I also feel like he’s venturing forward a little more, Darren’s [Cahill] the only coach here this week and I think surely they’ve been working on the approach and in, and thinking about cutting off the court a little more to add a little more variety to his game.
“Because I was just out on the court watching tonight and the variety that Alcaraz has, and the variation that he has of changing speeds on his shots is second to none, that’s what makes him so dangerous. And I do feel like sometimes when I watch Sinner, I don’t know if you think about this, that Sinner gets locked in sometimes on one speed.
“And in baseball, even if you have an amazing fast ball and that’s all you got, they will get onto it, so you can get a little grooved to Sinner and the unpredictability of Alcaraz is something to see.”
Brad Gilbert tells Alexander Zverev what he needs to do to beat Jannik Sinner
Sinner will look to reach his first final of the year and ever at Indian Wells when he plays Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.
The world number two leads the head-to-head against Zverev 6-4, but notably Sinner has won their five most recent meetings.
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When assessing Zverev’s chances of beating Sinner, Gilbert told the German that he needs to believe he can win the match, before explaining what he needs to do on his serve and forehand.
“They’re going to have to serve unbelievably well and win a lot of free points…For Zverev, it comes down to one word I think, belief,” said Gilbert. “He’s talked about that he has no mojo and confidence playing Sinner and if you believe that you got no shot.
“But, I do think in hot conditions and if you are coaching him you say go aggressive on your first, maybe go aggressive on your second and the thing is you can’t be predictable with the forehand cross, you got to be a little bit more aggressive and use some one-two’s. Albeit I’m going Sinner and he’s running downhill, I think that’s a break a set.”
Sinner and Zverev will play their Indian Wells semifinal on Saturday, March 14, as they look to book their spot in the final against either Alcaraz or Daniil Medvedev.
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