Mats Wilander points out what the ‘difference’ is between Jannik Sinner and almost every other player on the ATP Tour

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Jannik Sinner continued his Australian Open title defence after beating Alex de Minaur to reach the semi-finals.

Sinner struggled physically in his fourth round match against Holger Rune, but appeared to shrug any fitness concerns off against De Minaur.

While the world number one remains in the Australian Open, Sinner’s rival Carlos Alcaraz is out after losing to Novak Djokovic.

Following his exit from the Melbourne major, Alcaraz backed Sinner as one of the favourites to win the Australian Open this year.

Mats Wilander explains the difference between Jannik Sinner and Alex de Minaur

Sinner has a dominant head-to-head against De Minaur, having won all 10 of their matches against one another.

This is something that Mats Wilander, who has previously voiced opinions on Sinner, spoken about on Eurosport as he analyzed the difference between the Italian and most players on the ATP Tour.

“You see the difference here between him and Alex de Minaur here, who plays with very little spin and he’s not able to move Sinner out of the middle of the court at all,” said Wilander. “With Jannik, yes he hits the ball hard, but sometimes he hits it with so much more top spin and then he moves his opponent out of the middle. That’s the biggest difference between him and basically everybody else this days.”

Andy Murray’s former coach calls tennis the best sport in the world after watching Jannik Sinner

While the Rod Laver Arena crowd may not have been pleased with the Australian number one being beaten, Sinner’s impressive performance has certainly got people talking.

Andy Murray’s former coach, Mark Petchey, is one of those and posted to social media after the match to express how much he has enjoyed watching the Australian Open night sessions.

Petchey highlighted the Tuesday evening night session, when Djokovic beat Alcaraz, as a ‘masterpiece’.

“Last two night matches have seen tennis played at a level that make this sport the best in the world,” Petchey said on X (formerly known as Twitter). “Individual excellence tonight. Masterpiece created last night.”

The Australian Open men’s singles lineup will see Sinner taking on Ben Shelton, and Djokovic playing Alexander Zverev, with both matches on Friday January 24.