Jannik Sinner in the footsteps of Nadal, Djokovic, Murray
With his strong autumn in 2019, 18-year-old South Tyrolean Jannik Sinner has played in a category with all-time greats like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Dec 02, 2019, 08:14 am
The success at the #NextGen Finals in Madrid was good for the minds of Jannik Sinner and also that of Italian tennis fans. For the ATP World Ranking the performance show of the best U-21 professionals was ineffective. In Milan, no points were distributed. But a few days later at the ATP Challenger tournament in Ortisei, the Sinner in the final match against the Austrian Sebastian Ofner won sovereign. And thus followed in the footsteps of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Denis Shapovalov.
These four players were the last to complete a tennis year in the top 80 professionals in the world at the age of just 18 (in the case of Nadal 17). And Sinner had started the 2019 season on a position outside the top 550 pros.
Wawrinka beats Sinner twice
The first exclamation point was achieved by the teenager in Bergamo, where he became the first player born in 2001 or later to win a title on the Challenger Tour. In Ostrau followed a little later the entry into the final of the Challengers there, before Sinner justified in Foro Italico his wildcard for the main draw of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament with a win against Steve Johnson.
In the summer of 2019 Sinner won the Challenger in Lexington. And qualified for the US Open, where he was defeated in a close match Stan Wawrinka in round one. The Swiss also stopped the race of Sinner in Antwerp in the semifinals. However, if it continues in the pace of 2019, then Jannik Sinner will soon master hurdles such as that of the triple major winner from Switzerland.
Here the U18 players in the top 80 since the year 2000:
| year | player | Older | position |
| 2003 | Rafael Nadal | 17 | 49 |
| 2004 | Rafael Nadal | 18 | 51 |
| 2005 | Andy Murray | 18 | 64 |
| 2005 | Novak Djokovic | 18 | 78 |
| 2017 | Denis Shapovalov | 18 | 51 |
| 2019 | Jannik Sinner | 18 | 78 |