Renowned tennis coach Paul Annacone, known for guiding players like Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, recently discussed Jannik Sinner’s potential to excel on grass courts. He emphasized the importance of Sinner’s first-strike tennis skills in improving his game on this surface.
Despite holding a 12-8 record on grass, Sinner’s performance, especially reaching the Wimbledon semi-final last year, showcases his ability on this surface. Annacone highlighted the challenges of facing top players like Novak Djokovic on grass and the improvements Sinner needs to make to surpass rising stars like Carlos Alcaraz.
“To me, even though the grass game has evolved, generally, the most effective grass-court players are the ones that are really good at first-strike tennis. He made a big improvement on second-serve success rate. His first-serve speeds and accuracy are up.”
“So I think when you look at those two things, and you look at his ability to return aggressively, and also first-strike tennis, power tennis, [playing] aggressively in return games… I think that’s going to be a catalyst to drive his success on the grass.”
Sinner is set to begin his grass season in Halle, marking his first event since becoming the world number one. Annacone noted the importance of Sinner’s improving serve and return skills for his success on grass courts, especially in comparison to more agile players like Alcaraz.
“Even though he’s moving much, much better, he’s a tall, lanky guy. I actually think that’s one of the disadvantages, maybe, compared to a mover like Alcaraz who is lower to the ground. He’s much more powerful, he’ll probably move a little bit more nuanced and also subtly more balanced than Jannik will on a grass court, I think.”
“So based on that, you really have to be good off of the first strike. So when you look at [Sinner’s] improvements in the serve, in particular, that’s a huge bonus. He’s a terrific returner. So that’s standard and that is the status quo, but I think serve is going to pay huge dividends for him on the grass this year.”
