Jannik Sinner is coming under pressure after his defeat to Jakub Mensik at the Qatar Open last week.
Sinner was beaten by Mensik in the quarterfinals in Doha, in a shock early exit from the ATP 500 tournament by his standards.
This brought an end to an incredible streak for Sinner, which had lasted nearly three years for the Italian.
Tallying up with his Australian Open defeat to Novak Djokovic, concerns are now growing for Sinner and former Wimbledon semifinalist Sam Querrey has put him under even more pressure ahead of his next two tournaments.
Sam Querrey suggests Jannik Sinner needs to win either Indian Wells or the Miami Open
Sinner will now have a week away from the match court ahead of his next two tournaments, which are the sunshine double of Indian Wells and the Miami Open.
Ahead of the first ATP 1000 tournament of the year, former American players Steve Johnson and Querrey have suggested that Sinner needs to win one of these titles before they really start to have questions over the world number two.
“There’s no reason to panic, but I don’t think if he wins Indian Wells or Miami, then you start to question things,” Johnson said on the Nothing Major Podcast.
Querrey responded, “He has to win one, weirdly enough, in my mind. Otherwise it’s like, dude, something is really off.”
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Johnson added, “Yeah just because of how good he is, right? He’s earned that right. But he’s lost to no one except for Carlos it seems like over the better part of two years so I feel like if he starts losing to guys not named Carlos more often, that becomes a little perplexing.
“But he’s set this bar for himself, so he’s only got himself to blame and for the bar that he has set for how good he has been over the last three years.”
Sinner’s biggest rival Carlos Alcaraz won the Qatar Open title last week, and there are now concerns about whether there is a gap starting to form between the two biggest players on the ATP Tour right now.
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Jannik Sinner’s previous results at Indian Wells and the Miami Open
Sinner’s next tournament is Indian Wells, which is actually one of the only three Masters 1000 tournaments where he is yet to reach the final.
The best results he achieved at the Californian event came in 2023 and 2024, where Sinner reached the semifinals before losing to Alcaraz on both occasions.
Sinner has found better results at the Miami Open, where he has reached the championship match three times.
The best of those was in 2024, when Sinner won the Miami Open for the first time after beating Grigor Dimitrov in the final.
| Year | Jannik Sinner’s Result at Indian Wells | Jannik Sinner’s Result at the Miami Open |
| 2021 | Fourth Round | Final |
| 2022 | Fourth Round | Quarterfinal |
| 2023 | Semifinal | Final |
| 2024 | Semifinal | Won the title |
| 2025 | Did not play | Did not play |
After Sinner faced a three month ban from tennis last year, he was unable to defend his title at the Miami Open.
While this was a majorly negative experience for Sinner in 2025, it does mean that he has no points to defend at either Indian Wells or the Miami Open this year.
Sinner will first look to return to form at Indian Wells, which gets underway on March 4.
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