If that's too long to read, here is the summary: Alcaraz has big 4 level fitness and strength. Sinner is not quite there yet despite having big 4-type consistency. He needs to put more hours in the gym.

 

I don't know about this take. Dude had a fine season and even against Alcaraz apart from USO which was seemingly a result of Team Alcaraz doing their homework after Wimbledon. Next time we'll see what Team Sinner have potentially been working on. They are presumably in the lab as we speak, just like Team Alcaraz were after Wimbledon. You don't need any extra breaks but can use these regular breaks. And it would be a weird move particularly now also for the reason that this is traditionally a good part of the season for Sinner. Finished off last year winning Shanghai, Six Kings, Tour Finals and the Davis Cup B2B2B2B. After that you can then continue your development and tweaks also during the normal off-season.

 

Just the time-off can be more useless than useful. Nothing can replace active playing in matches and tournaments with occasional week or two off.

 

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No hidden agenda behind this post. If Sinner decides to push himself hard in the rest of the year, he might get n.1 but at what cost? He will have less time to recover and improve for next season. That's good for Alcaraz. One could easily argue that the ban actually helped Sinner rest and give his best in RG and Wimbledon this season. It's not easy to produce that level all year. But if he improves his fitness more, however, he can play more at that level during the year and serve better more consistently.

 

He is already in Beijing

 

Same as Med. The worst thing, though, is that Bonzi has decided to change tournaments and play there instead of Tokyo due to some unknown reason. F*ck off!

 

We all know he's not gonna miss the chance to vulture weak HC draws for as long as he can avoid his daddy.

 

Too much obsession over this, man. It's borderline (and by borderline I mean full-blown) hilarious

 

I get that but we need a third force badly. It's not my fault. Feels it's only interesting to talk about Alcaraz and Sinner these days, and if not, then talking about past eras/matches. The current field stinks too much to take anyone seriously, unfortunately. I had big hopes for Draper, but he is made of glass.

 

He already had off 3 months this year or whatever and still didn't fix his rotten serve

 

And that helped him peak for FO and Wimbledon (at least from the baseline). I would say that ban paid off, but his fitness and strength level are still not Big 4 level or Sampras level. He needs more strength training. That chicken wing shoulder of his isn't ideal for consistent big serving anyway. It's too weak. He needs to gain more muscle and strength, not just better technique on serve; otherwise, Alcaraz will be serving bigger than him more consistently.

 

And that helped him peak for FO and Wimbledon (at least from the baseline). I would say that ban paid off, but his fitness is still not Big 4 level or Sampras level. He needs more strength training. That chicken wing shoulder of his isn't ideal for consistent big serving. It's too weak. He needs to gain more muscle; otherwise, Alcaraz will be serving bigger than him more consistently.

He looked great at RG overall . Wimbledon I think he would have lost to Dimitrov straight sets. He really looked clueless against variety. He really needs a coach to fix his serve, get more variety to his game, and counter variety. If not alot of guys are going to start deploying variety against him and unlock the key to beating him

 

He looked great at RG overall . Wimbledon I think he would have lost to Dimitrov straight sets. He really looked clueless against variety

Because Dimitrov was serving bombs and using the slice BH perfectly to set up his FH, but he is old and his body couldn't take the consistent big serving eventually. But we still don't know how that match would end up anyway, and it seems Sinner was a bit compromised with the elbow. Still very lucky. But someone as fit as Alcaraz can handle serving that big consistently, I believe. Sinner need to be fit enough to serve big consistently and comfortably.

And yes, he should improve at dealing with variety. But if he can't use variety, then his best option is just to juice up that serve and make his default game plan even harder to beat via better rally tolerance. That can only happen if he upgrades his fitness and strength further imo. Because the longer the rally, the better it is for Carlos, who can wear him down eventually.

I was very impressed by Sinner's fitness in FO final. He looked a bit tired at some points, but caught a 2nd wind to come back in the 5th. But how often can he deliver that level of fitness in a final? We don't know, but he already showed physical fragility. Consistent long battles are not suitable for Sinner. His best chance is beating Alcaraz in a fairly quick 4 sets. That's too much pressure because Alcaraz can easily make it a battle of attrition if Sinner isn't playing perfectly.

Before I was wrongly assuming that only Alcaraz has to play perfectly vs Sinner to win, but imo it's also the other way around as well. There is equal pressure on Sinner to play perfectly to beat Alcaraz as well, especially after Alcaraz improved his serve now.

 

imo it's better for him to wait and see if the new ATP CEO has something planned

 

Sinner has two choices basically.. Either get a better return of serve and break more often or get a great serve himself. If not, he may never win another slam (If Alcaraz has actually become consistent now and keeps his serve good). Sinner is already 24. After 24-25, thats when the downhill slide begin and he is a little and lanky to make me think hes gonna have some long tennis career and have success into his 30's, Of course, I'm not convinced Carlos has a long one either. How's he gonna look when he slows and this peak athleticism he showing is finally gone?

 

Sinner has two choices basically. Either get a better return of serve and break more often or get a great serve himself. If not, he may never win another slam (If Alcaraz has actually become consistent now and keeps his serve good). Sinner is already 24. After 24-25, thats when the downhill slide begin and he is a little and lanky to make me think hes gonna have some long tennis career and have success into his 30's

So what if Sinner improves his service like Alca did (supposed USO wasn't just a one-time serving wonder for Alca, of course)?

 

You can work on your shots, improve your weapons and your body. In this regard dna and nature play a big role, though. As much as you can train you’ll never change the main structure of your body and certain results are unachievable.

Putting on more mass on some skeletons might increase risk of injuries and worsen posture.

 

Interesting perspective and valid. There is only so much one can do to improve their fitness. Genetics play a big role. Some players are just stronger and more athletic. But it's also impossible to know for sure that Sinner did everything he could to maximize his strength. Maybe he can add more muscle and strength without compromising something in his game. Wasn't Murray fairly skinny when he was a teen and got his best results after bulking up and improving his fitness overall? I'm not really sure how many expected Murray to be a fitness freak back then. Same with Djokovic before 2010.

 

Sinner times

 

If I'm not mistaken, this guy helped Mensik before Miami, and he eventually won the whole thing. Can't be a coincidence 😀

 

If Sinner wants to be greater, he needs proper strength training and conditioning overall @Muzzafan. There is no other way. Prime Murray would wear him down with no problem (more often than not). Murray just happened to play in a much stronger era against three freaks (also freaks fitness-wise). Alcaraz's fitness is big 4 level. Sinner gotta catch up.

 

If Sinner wants to be greater, he needs proper strength training and conditioning overall @Muzzafan. There is no other way. Prime Murray would wear him down with no problem (more often than not). Murray just happened to play in a much stronger era against three freaks (also freaks fitness-wise). Alcaraz's fitness is big 4 level. Sinner gotta catch up.

I think his problem is being injury-prone, rather than match endurance. He falls and suddenly he has a niggling pain somewhere which affects his tournament-winning prospects.

He's certainly less prone to injury than 2-3 years ago so hopefully he keeps building himself up.

 

I wouldn't have minded him skipping Beijing. But I guess you might as well play more than one event if you're going to fly to China.

 

If Sinner has Zverev's body strength (or even close to it), I have no doubt Sinner would be serving bombs consistently. Z has diabetes, but still worked hard to gain muscle and elite strength (shame that doesn't translate to his game apart from the serve, however). I still think Sinner can benefit from more strength training and conditioning.

Sascha worked very hard to be this good.

 

Sinner missed 5 masters this year.

He had a slight level drop and played a Goating Alcaraz. He can play a few more tournaments.