Jannik Sinner “has something more” compared to Novak Djokovic, according to their former coach, Riccardo Piatti.
Sinner and Djokovic have a few things in common. They both reached the World No. 1 spot on the ATP Tour, they both have the Australian Open as their most successful major, and they are both great tennis players.
Another thing that they share is Riccardo Piatti, who worked with both of them. The Italian coach worked with Djokovic back in 2005 and 2006, and he worked with Sinner in the young Italian’s teenage years.
Piatti is an experienced coach and he got to witness many generations of tennis players. Having worked with Djokovic and observed the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, he knew exactly how to form a tennis player and what weaknesses they must avoid having.
The 66-year-old coach recently talked to Tennis Majors and explained that when he coached Sinner, his main objective was to teach the Italian player how to beat Djokovic.
The Serbian player was the best player in the world at the time, and Piatti’s coaching proved to be fruitful. A few years later, Sinner has won four of the last five matches he played against Djokovic, including the last three in a row.
According to Piatti, Sinner and his young rival Carlos Alcaraz saw Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as goals, which is why their games are similar to those two legends.
“Actually, it's that Alcaraz and Sinner had Nadal and Djokovic as goals. It was all about how they could beat them. My goal when I was coaching Jannik, and because I coached Djokovic back in the day, was to find how Jannik could beat Djokovic.”
Piatti admitted that even after he stopped working with Djokovic, he continued watching his matches, which inspired him to shape Sinner’s game.
“I was watching Nole a lot, I worked with him, and so the idea is always to find someone who can beat a guy like this. I didn't have an opportunity to coach Nadal or Federer, or the process would have been different.”
The Italian coach thinks that this approach will be used also by the coaches in the coming years. They will try to find a way how to beat Alcaraz and Sinner when shaping the next prodigies of the sport.
Piatti also thinks that even though Sinner was shaped after Djokovic, he has more to his game than the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
“But the idea is always the same, and now it'd be to find a young player who in eight to ten years can beat Alcaraz or Sinner. Sinner, if you compare to Djokovic, has a similar technique and movement, but I think his shots are now stronger than Nole. Of course, Nole is older now, but I think Jannik here has something more.”
