Sinner Is Here To Serve

Welcome back! We've got lots to talk about in this edition!

Jannik Sinner had one job at the end of 2025: Get that serve at the level of the rest of his game. AO happened to be both the hiccup and the trigger, as we’ve all seen how great that shot has become since Indian Wells. At Wimbledon, it’s been coming to his rescue time and time again. As the Italian is two wins away from the title, we’re going to see if the fix also holds under pressure. He’ll now face Novak Djokovic, aka Highlander, the man who destroyed his Australian Open and who, as seen in that epic against Félix Auger-Aliassime, just cannot die.

What happens when junior prodigies start to miss the milestones set by precocity standards? Are the standards just outdated, or is it sometimes better not to land on the prodigy trail? I’ve chatted with French hope Ksenia Efremova, who’s right in this tricky moment of her very young career. Lots of expectations since she was 10, AO champion this year, but has now lost in the first round in Paris and the second in London, ranked 601 at 17. Also got dropped by her coach right before Wimbledon. “Today, I was on the court, and I was completely lost. I fought, but I didn’t know what to do,” Efremova shared.

I’ve also chatted with Czech player Darja Vidmanova, who, despite being a solid junior player, decided to take the College tennis path. A choice more and more common these days. Towering at 6’3”, she got both a free degree and a full strength and conditioning team to get her ready to return to the WTA at 23. “You’re getting a lot of matches in. (…) I was getting better there every year. (…)” said the double NCAA champion. “They definitely work on a lot of specific things there in fitness and strength and conditioning.”

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Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon is showing all the progress made on the shot he had started to need the most.

Yes, the service is included. Jannik Sinner to Wimbledon, or something… The Italian has already hit 97 aces during this Wimbledon 2026, just beaten by Jan-Lennard Struff (112) and Alexander Bublik (104). More importantly, that shot has started again to get him out of jail when it matters the most. As you’ve read here several times, I never thought the Italian had to reinvent his game and turn into a variations master to rule that world.

No, the only common point in the recent crushing defeats he got (RG and US Open 2025, AO 2026) was his serve percentage nosediving at the worst moments. Sinner might be very tall and powerful, but somehow that shot has always been a tricky one to tame. Darren Cahill had put that work at the top of their list, and it came back again after Melbourne. They’ve put the hours and the brainstorming on it ahead of Indian Wells, and it’s been working wonders. Until, well, the heat and the body had enough of that clay. So what we’re seeing again at Wimbledon is just “new business as usual” resuming.

Sinner and team had One Job, and they delivered

Now, we all know that in tennis your “weaker” spots tend to come back to bite you when the pressure is high, or you’re having a so-so day. It used to be Novak’s serve, Andy’s forehand and second serve, Roger’s backhand, and so on. It goes without saying that we’re talking about shots that are already world-class, just that they happen to be the baby Achilles of their masters’ impeccable-to-supernatural game. So for Sinner, time again will tell how much the fix has been ingrained enough to stay, the way Djokovic post 2014 totally reinvented his serve and turned that shot into a weapon.

So when I asked Jannik Sinner, after his clutch win over a very inspired Jan-Lennard Struff in that quarterfinal, what he was the most satisfied with in his game, he didn’t hesitate that long to answer.

“Serving in important moments... I felt like I was serving quite intelligently today, even though I was up a break in the second set and I had a drop of concentration again. I tried to stay there mentally in every service game. Also, how I handled important moments in that match, because if you lose the second set, everything can happen again. Especially with big servers, you have less control. That's for sure something I can be proud of. That's it. I felt like today was, again, a small step better because it was a very different opponent I faced until now. Big server here on grass is always tough. Happy about today's performance, and now of course I try to be as ready as I can for the semis.”

In Italian, he was asked again about how that serve and how he and the team had been working on it to turn into the deciding factor it often happens to be now. People shouldn’t take for granted that being able to tweak and improve a shot technically is a skill, and so a differentiator. Not every top player can fix their “weaker” spots.

“I also believe in the physical part, because physically if you become stronger, you also feel a little more stable. We have certainly worked a lot in the last two years: We have changed the movement, we have changed the ball toss, we have changed the timing, many things, and not always on speed, as we have also tried to use the right service at the right time. For the moment I’m serving quite well. In general, I can be happy about the service at this moment, knowing that the most important thing is also the percentage, as on this surface if you put a lot of percentage, it can help you a lot. But we had some pretty important discussions for the service. We were all in agreement, so we got there, not just on quantity, but maybe also on quality. In all training sessions we try to give quality, on certain shots.”

As the Big 4 kept saying and doing: It’s always about how to get better, whether you’re already at the top or not. This mindset is maybe their biggest legacy to the game, as we’ve been hearing every top player since them say they needed to become every day a better version of themselves and keep improving all the time. They’ve also set the bar so high and lasted for so long that the rest of the field had no other option than to try to catch up. Then Carlos Alcaraz happened to Jannik Sinner and vice versa.

So yes, Jannik Sinner gained a drop shot since last year, and a bit more confidence at the net, but the most important thing is that he got that serve firing. With his body type and to last long in this game, he needs all the free points he can get with as little effort as he can make. I would guess that, if all keeps going on track, next year could be his “net game era,” as it remains mind-blowing that with all the power and shot-making he has, including a sneaky backhand slice, Sinner still spends most of his tennis life on the baseline. Let’s not forget, he’s just 24.

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Novak Djokovic, the player, is immortal. That’s it, that’s the summary of how the Serbian qualified for the semifinals of Wimbledon again, keeping the 25th dream alive. 5h15, five sets, all the momentum shifts, a few body aches along the way, an incredible opponent who threw everything at him, and yet The Djoker didn’t break.

At 39, Djokovic just played one of the greatest matches of the year, putting the Centre Court on its feet and Félix Auger-Aliassime on his knees. He looked poised to win in four when they put the roof and AC over his head, and he started zoning, being a break up. But then, he took a wall, looked his age for the first time, and we were like, oh, it’s happening. But, as he has been doing for a while now, “Nole” refused the rule of time.

He kept fighting on these forehands on the run that looked more painful by the minute. He found some great serves, he moved forward, he just refused to miss. The rallies by the end of that match were out of this world, and he is the one who survived one shot enough to win. People were on their feet, yelling.

“I'm still able to battle these young guys that have 15 years less than me… I'm able to beat them at the tightest possible scoreline. Of course, in a sense, it is really a nice surprise. But at the same time, I always have the highest expectations for myself. I can be very self-critical, very hard on myself. I try to also enjoy moments like this. I don't know what tomorrow brings. To be honest, let's see. I'm still in the tournament. I still want to go at least one more step further. But this was as good as a final for me. I gave it all that I had, gave it my best. I think it was a really thrilling experience for us players, but also for the crowd present in the stadium; I'm sure also a lot of people watching on TV. Glad to be part of another historic match.”

Félix Auger-Aliassime couldn’t have played better than what he did on that Centre Court on Tuesday. He was even eye-to-eye with Djokovic in the backhand battle. Like, if you know, you know. And yet, he left the court destroyed, unable to process what had just happened to him. Yet, by the time he came to the press, he had found a silver lining and a lot of pride about the fight he put out there.

“Amazing fight, amazing battle with a legend of our sport. It is what it is. Obviously, it's tough for me. Quarters in Paris. Here. I had other chances in my career where tight matches like this didn't go my way. I'll have to see what I can do so it goes my way the next time. For now, I can be proud of the fight, and then I move on, move on to what's next. (…) I've watched plenty of Novak over the years. I've analyzed a lot of his matches, whether it's here or other Grand Slams. Even at times when he wasn't playing his best, beating Roger here in 2019. You just feel like in tiebreaks or tight moments, either he serves well, or he makes you play the extra shot. Just keeps you in a position where you can't attack him, but he neutralizes you until he waits for a mistake.”

I’ve seen my fair share of Djokovic’s epic matches through the years, but this one, at this stage of his career, is blowing my mind as much as the one in Melbourne did. It’s again a reminder that he is in a league of his own now that the other three have left the game. The last one standing. And gosh, he’s standing so tall. Tall enough for Jannik Sinner next? Logic says no, but as seen today, what is logic with Djokovic?

Tennis loves a prodigy story, but rarely talks about those who don’t get the easy way from junior genius to struggling to figure it out when bumps appear on the road.

I always keep an eye on the juniors when I can, as you all know by now. It’s always better to start getting to know them at this age, and it’s always very fun to me to go and try to see who might be the next big thing. These days, you also find great coaches and former players in their entourage, so it’s also very interesting.

And so I’ve been following a bit more closely lately the journey of French player Ksenia Efremova. France’s next big women's tennis hope. Australian Open Jr winner. Poised to be The One since she was… 10 or something? I always had a feeling it was a