Sinner-Alcaraz: Vagnozzi reveals the Spaniard’s true advantage

The words of Simone Vagnozzi

Jannik Sinner’s coach, Simone Vagnozzi, gave a lengthy interview to the “T Quotidiano Autonomo del Trentino Alto Adige” in which, among the many topics he touched on, he also spoke about his pupil’s differences from Carlos Alcaraz: “Jannik will never have the physique of Alcaraz, who was already a man at 18. But within three years we will get him to have the best possible physique without distorting his characteristics. We must not rush and push too hard with athletic workloads, it would be like throwing a boomerang, it would backfire on us. Mentally and in terms of determination Sinner has nothing less. Does he know what Alcaraz’s real advantage is? He entered the tour more tennis-ready, even more precocious and complete than Jannik, who, however, is already strong and has enormous room for improvement. He already varies his game with greater fluidity and better automatisms, and above all he knows when and how to do it according to the opponent. Then tactically he is trying new things, including being more patient and stretching out the exchange, this sometimes leads him to waste more energy than a more mature 26-27 player like a Medvedev may be.”

“Sinner can get to win Slams and the most important tournaments,” Vagnozzi continued, “already now he can try, technically he has grown and his level of play is already that of the best: after all, last year, in a season that was moreover peculiar because of the change of team and physical setbacks, he made the quarters in three Slams, beat Alcaraz twice and the third, at the US Open, he lost there in the fifth set with match point in hand; and he came close to hitting the big one with Djokovic at Wimbledon. This year, he defeated Tsitsipas in Rotterdam, after succumbing in the fifth set in Melbourne.

“We are aiming for the ATP Finals in November. To get there, we need to have continuity of performance and do well in the major Opens. The beginning of the season has been very good, both in technical and physical growth, if we exclude the small game injury in Adelaide,” concluded the Italian’s coach.