"These guys are always looking to get better"- Mark Philippoussis pinpoints the 'mentality' Jannik Sinner shares with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
Mark Philippoussis has compared Jannik Sinner's mentality to that of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic after the Italian's impressive start to the season.
There were signs last year that Sinner was going to come for the biggest titles in 2024. He ended the year with an impressive 64-15 record, winning four trophies (including a Masters 1000 title in Canada) and leading Italy to Davis Cup glory.
Sinner started the new season in the best way possible. He won the Australian Open after downing the competition's 10-time champion, Djokovic, in the semi-finals and beating Daniil Medvedev in the final.
Sinner was two sets down in the championship match against the Russian but he kept his cool, played some aggressive tennis, and won the next three sets to lift the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup. He then participated in the Rotterdam Open and ran through the field with relative ease to lift his fourth career ATP 500 title.
Speaking about Sinner, Philippoussis, a two-time Grand Slam finalist and a former singles World No. 8, went on to explain what set the Italian apart from the rest of the players.
"You know the best thing, he's [Jannik Sinner is] such a good kid. I jumped on it too [the bandwagon]. He was my pick, by the way, at the start of the tournament. He was my pick. He's a great kid. You see him walking by, he looks at you, says hello, gives respect to anybody", Philippoussis said on the Sooshi Mango Saucy Meatballs Podcast.
"His team is a great team, and he's got a champion's mentality. After he won, in the locker room, he's going to ask the question, 'how can I get better?'. That's the difference between Nadal and the Djokovic. That's the champion's mentality. These guys are always looking to get better...", the 47-year-old Aussie added.
Sinner's most recent triumph came in Rotterdam, where the new World No. 3 beat Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-4 in the final on Sunday (February 18) to register his seventh straight win against the Australian.
What does Jannik Sinner's H2H record look like against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic?
Jannik Sinner, 22, is inarguably part of the pack of young players who are expected to become the face of tennis once Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic bid the sport adieu.
Sinner, in fact, has already made a case for him to be considered Djokovic's biggest threat on the Tour, at least on hard courts. The Italian enjoys a 4-3 head-to-head lead against the Serb and has won three of their last four meetings, including wins in Melbourne, Davis Cup, and the ATP Finals.
However, the 36-year-old Serb has reigned supreme on natural surfaces, winning both their knockout encounters at Wimbledon (2022, 2023) and at the 2021 Monte-Carlo Masters. Sinner and Nadal, meanwhile, have only ever met on clay courts.
The Spaniard has won on all three occasions, with the latest triumph coming in the Round of 16 of the French Open in 2021. Although Sinner's game can still use improvement, he has come a long way since his last match against the 37-year-old Spaniard and it will be interesting to see how they will fare against each other if they ever meet on a different surface.