Italian tennis great Adriano Panatta has compared Jannik Sinner to boxing legend Mike Tyson for the aggressive way he starts matches.
The former world No 4 named Carlos Alcaraz as the only player who can beat Sinner as he questioned Novak Djokovic’s chances against the Italian — particularly at majors.
Sinner downed Taylor Fritz in straight sets in the final of the 2024 US Open on Sunday to claim his second Grand Slam title.
The Italian’s victory has strengthened his grip on the world No 1 ranking as he is now over 4,000 points clear of Alexander Zverev, who occupies second spot.
The 23-year-old’s triumph at the New York major was his sixth title in what has been an outstanding 2024 season.
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Speaking on La Telefonota podcast, Panatta likened Sinner’s mentality to that of Tyson and argued Alcaraz is the only player who can stop his Italian compatriot.
“Sinner is the only player who comes onto the court and doesn’t wait,” said the former French Open champion.
“I think of Tyson in the first matches, when he came in and hit until the other fell to the ground.
“Sinner has this mentality: he plays, then he can even miss a few balls, but he plays the match, he never waits.
“This is the big difference between him and the others, it’s what Alcaraz does when he is in form, and in fact he is the only one who can beat him.
“I don’t even think Djokovic can do it, maybe two sets out of three, not three out of five. Sinner never drops, he never does stupid things.”
Sinner and Djokovic have faced off just once so far in 2024, with the Italian prevailing in four sets in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January. Djokovic leads the head-to-head 4-3, while Sinner has won three of the last four meetings.
At the end of last year, Panatta claimed Sinner would shorten Djokovic’s career if he defeated the Serbian two or three times this season.
“In my opinion, if Sinner were to beat him two or three more times in 2024, he would become Djokovic’s nightmare, pushing him towards retirement,” said the Italian.
“History teaches and usually repeats itself. [Bjorn] Borg quit with the arrival of [John] McEnroe, McEnroe retired when [Boris] Becker arrived.”
