Jannik Sinner is determined to win Roland Garros and will do everything in his power to achieve it. And we're saying this in mid-March, so you've been warned. The Italian has been quietly working on various aspects for months, preparing for the clay season in April. What we saw at the past Indian Wells is evidence of this.
Why do we say this? His numbers testify to it. If we already knew that Jannik was the best in terms of serving statistics, at this past Indian Wells, he raised the bar almost as if he were Duplantis at every competition he enters. We may have witnessed one of the best serving performances by Sinner in a long time.
Sinner leaves some terrifying service stats
We are talking about Indian Wells, a tournament where usually serving isn’t as crucial since it's more favorable for returners, but Jannik has taken advantage of the faster conditions this year to maximize his serve.
| Sinner in IW 2026 | Sinner's Average | Circuit Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average aces | 8.5 | 6 | 5.8 |
| % 1st serve points won | 64% | 65% | 63% |
| 1st serve points won | 86% | 80% | 72% |
| 2nd serve points won | 58% | 58% | 51% |
| Break points saved | 78% | 68% | 63% |
| Service points won | 76% | 72% | 65% |
| Service games won | 96% | 92% | 81% |
| 1st serve precision | 46cms | 53cms | 60cms |
| 1st serves unreturned | 53% | 43% | 35% |
| 2nd serves unreturned | 13% | 18% | 17% |
Data source: Tennis Insights, by TennisViz.
As we can see in the table, Jannik has raised several parameters of his serve in this tournament. He increased by 6% the points won with the first serve, saved 10% more break points (only conceded 9 and was broken only twice), won 4% more service points, won 4% more service games, had 10% more first serves not returned, and was 7cms more precise with his first serve.
The most surprising of these stats is the last one since it is fine-tuning something that was already astonishing. Djokovic is known for placing his first serves closest to the lines. Historically, no one was as accurate with their serves as he was. Djokovic always operated at an average of 50 to 52cms. Well, in this Indian Wells, Sinner placed his serves at an average of just 46cms from the lines, surpassing Djokovic and being far ahead of Alcaraz (64cms) or Zverev (50cms), who rank high with him.
In addition to this, the fact that he increased by 10% the number of first serves not returned is spine-chilling just to think about. More than half of Jannik's first serves do not come back to his side. A phenomenal achievement. When we also consider where he places his serves in pressure points, one starts to wonder if he actually has blood in his veins and not horchata.
Based on what we've seen at this Indian Wells, Jannik has been hitting many wide serves, practicing the serve with an outward spin, a shot commonly used on clay courts. This, combined with other aspects of his game, indicates that Sinner is using these tournaments as a testing ground to surprise everyone with his level on clay when April arrives.
The defeats in Australia and Doha were just the price to pay to try to become the best when the clay season comes around. After completing the Hard Slam and winning all that was winnable on hard courts (in terms of M1000 and Slams), he now has to do the same on clay, the only surface where he hasn't won a major title yet. This will change. There is no doubt about it. The question is whether it will happen this year. Given his current form, he will surely end up lifting some title.
本新闻为自动翻译。您可以阅读原始新闻:Sinner mete miedo de cara a la tierra batida

