How Did Sinner Improve His Serve -- Yet Again?

[jimlosaltos]

Buried in the CGI video and bags of money at the "Six Kings Slam" was this gem -- Jannik Sinner started working on changing his service motion yet again, right after the US Open.

I didn't hear any specifics, but Jannik was serving lights out. In the first set vs Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik got 73% of his first serves in and more importantly all but one appeared to be within a foot of a line. If this is sustainable, a great spot server might have gotten more accurate? Caveats: This is a small sample, and it was indoors.

I admire the courage of Sinner, Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill to mess with what is already the number 1 to 3 best serve on tour.

This highlight video isn't ideal for the purpose, but does anyone see what they've done/ changed? Perhaps his toss is lower?

[stotty]

I’ll take Novak as the best spot server. His serve is arguably the main tool that has kept in contention the past few years. His serving is so precise and he employs it so well tactically too. I don’t think I have ever seen a player go from a very average serve to an excellent during the course of a career. It’s a serve that stands up (even gets better) under extreme pressure and has paid big dividends in clutch moments.

Sinner is doing great and his serve has greatly improved. He can serve harder than Novak for sure but he can’t finesse a serve like Novak can. I’m convinced Novak learnt (maybe subconsciously) to finesse a serve from Roger.

[jimlosaltos]

I’ll take Novak as the best spot server. His serve is arguably the main tool that has kept in contention the past few years. His serving is so precise and he employs it so well tactically too. I don’t think I have ever seen a player go from a very average serve to an excellent during the course of a career. It’s a serve that stands up (even gets better) under extreme pressure and has paid big dividends in clutch moments.

Sinner is doing great and his serve has greatly improved. He can serve harder than Novak for sure but he can’t finesse a serve like Novak can. I’m convinced Novak learnt (maybe subconsciously) to finesse a serve from Roger.

Oh, what Goran "The Server Whisperer" Ivanišević helped Djokovic with is extraordinary. Just as his main strengths ebbed, Novak improved his serve and made his forehand more offensive to almost compensate.

One thing both Carlos and Jannik do that impresses is to go for more on big points without red lining without seemingly making more errors or getting fewer serves in. Posted Jannik's stats on that way back, while I can't find newer versions, here are some numbers for Carlos during Six Kings. On break point, he increased his serve speed 14 MPH to over 130 MPH. { Image below from Netflix }

Back to Jannik, absent qualified opinions, I'll jump in; Sinner seemed to lower his toss and slow his take back. That's purely by eyeball. Might be way off, but that's my impression.

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