By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday November 19, 2023
The 2023 ended on a sour note for Italy’s Jannik Sinner, but the 22-year-old has so much to be proud of after a tremendous season that saw him become the highest-ranked Italian man in history, as well as the first man from his country to reach the 60-win plateau and the first man to play the final round at the ATP’s prestigious year-end championships.
Despite his 6-3, 6-3 loss at the hands of World No.1 Djokovic on Sunday in Turin, fourth-ranked Sinner was seeing the positive and taking stock of the tremendous strides he made during a season that saw him emerge as an elite talent with Grand Slam titles in his future.
“I think there are many positive things, to be honest,” Sinner said, alluding specifically to the progress he made in a physical capacity. “The season before, not this season but the season before, I got to know my body a little bit better. I had some mistakes. We solved most of the things. We solved it. We tried to learn how my body works. This season we worked a little bit more. We skipped some tournaments to work. I think we are doing everything in the right way.”
Sinner believes he is also a much stronger player mentally, as well.
“I think, especially the second half of the year, mentally I was much, much stronger,” he told reporters. “I was not complaining so much on court when things were not going in the wrong way [sic]. I think these kind of things, they make difference sometimes.”
Sinner has made incredible progress under the tutelage of Darren Cahill, and shored up a serve that was once a liability, as he changed his motion to generate more rhythm and power.
He also cited the many important matches he played in 2023, including the Wimbledon semifinal, the title run at the National Bank Open in Toronto, as well as his exploits in Turin.
“Obviously every player's different,” he said. “I think I can be proud of how me and my team, we work all together. My team, they know me maybe better than anyone else now because you pass a lot of time with them together. It's kind of family, no, to have the team.
“As you said, one of the things where I can be really happy is that I played many, many important matches in the biggest stadiums we have throughout the whole year. This is something that hopefully can help for the next season.”