Jannik Sinner has endured an underwhelming start to 2026, and his under pressure struggles looked to have played a key part.
Sinner has a 7-2 record from his two tournaments this season, with his Australian Open semifinal exit followed by a quarterfinal loss at the Qatar Open.
In stark contrast, ATP number one and his main rival Carlos Alcaraz has a 12-0 record, winning both tournaments.
It’s been a blistering start from Alcaraz, but a somewhat worrying one for Sinner, who has particularly underwhelmed when it comes to playing under pressure.
Is it time to start worrying about Jannik Sinner yet?
He has not looked himself in 2026…
Jannik Sinner can improve his under pressure game
The ATP measures its players in three key categories; serve, return and under pressure, and remarkably Sinner tops the pile for the first two.
But it is Alcaraz who leads the way for under pressure players, with Sinner not even in the top five right now.
He occupies sixth place in the list, behind Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Novak Djokovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Bublik.
It is an area that Sinner may be keen to work on, particularly given his lack of need to worry about his serve and return.
It is, however, very important to note that he leads the way for % break points saved and % tie breaks won, with his % break points converted and % deciding sets won efforts letting him down.
Nevertheless, it is telling that his serving and returning trump the entire ATP Tour, with Sinner only falling behind in the third and final key category.
| Rank | Player | Under pressure rating | % break points converted | % break points saved | % tie breaks won | % deciding sets won |
| 1 | Carlos Alcaraz | 259.6 | 43.9% | 67.7% | 65.6% | 82.4% |
| 2 | Ben Shelton | 250.2 | 40.8% | 68.0% | 61.4% | 80.0% |
| 3 | Novak Djokovic | 249.4 | 42.3% | 64.6% | 55.0% | 87.5% |
| 4 | Felix Auger-Aliassime | 243.3 | 33.9% | 67.7% | 66.7% | 75.0% |
| 5 | Alexander Bublik | 237.1 | 38.9% | 71.5% | 66.7% | 60.0% |
| 6 | Jannik Sinner | 236.5 | 43.4% | 72.2% | 76.5% | 44.4% |
| 7 | Learner Tien | 234.9 | 43.0% | 62.3% | 64.9% | 64.7% |
| 8 | Taylor Fritz | 232.7 | 36.3% | 66.4% | 61.8% | 68.2% |
| 9 | Alex de Minaur | 228.2 | 42.8% | 64.5% | 60.9% | 60.0% |
| 10 | Grigor Dimitrov | 226.8 | 38.7% | 65.6% | 60.0% | 62.5% |
Jannik Sinner still has reasons to be positive despite underwhelming form
Importantly, Sinner has been far from poor in 2026 so far, with his shortcomings simply highlighted by his stunning recent history.
He has been the standout on the ATP Tour in recent times alongside Alcaraz, with two Grand Slam titles among his six titles in the 2025 season.
Of course, he would have eyed a stronger start to the season, but there is still so much time for the Italian to find his feet.
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And as the four-time Grand Slam champion has proven over the years, he’s a near-impossible force to stop when he really gets going.
Notably, he’s still in the top 10 for this year’s win-loss index, and remains the closest competitor to Alcaraz in the ATP rankings by a huge margin.
| Rank | Player | Index | Titles | Win-loss |
| 1 | Carlos Alcaraz | 1 | 2 | 12-0 |
| 2 | Alex de Minaur | 0.846 | 1 | 11-2 |
| 3 | Ben Shelton | 0.833 | 1 | 10-2 |
| 4 | Novak Djokovic | 0.833 | 0 | 5-1 |
| 5 | Alexander Bublik | 0.786 | 1 | 11-3 |
| 6 | Jakub Mensik | 0.786 | 1 | 11-3 |
| 7 | Lorenzo Musetti | 0.778 | 0 | 7-2 |
| 8 | Jannik Sinner | 0.778 | 0 | 7-2 |
| 9 | Felix Auger-Aliassime | 0.75 | 1 | 9-3 |
| 10 | Daniil Medvedev | 0.75 | 1 | 9-3 |
His top-ranking serve and return figures are also a massive positive, and should be a warning to the rest of the players that he is ready to be a force to be reckoned with once more should his under pressure numbers improve even slightly.
And along with revenge from his recent losses, Sinner will have huge motivation on his mind as the French Open nears.
It represents the only Grand Slam that he has yet to win, with added incentive coming from the fact that Alcaraz just completed the career Grand Slam at the Australian Open.
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