When Darren Cahill joined Jannik Sinner’s coaching team, the Australian was already aware of the Italian being one of the hardest ball strikers in the men’s game.
But to finetune those groundstrokes, he essentially set him homework of poring over clips of another former Cahill charge, Andre Agassi, one of the all-time best returners.
It is one of a few tweaks Cahill has brought to Sinner’s armoury, the other major one being to add a mental resilience which was found wanting in big matches in the past.
In Malaga, it was a combination of his tennis talent and mental fortitude which saw him produce the most inspired and unlikely comeback to beat the form player in men’s tennis.
In their Davis Cup semi-final, Novak Djokovic looked on course to wrap up victory with three match points in a deciding set only for Sinner to cancel them out and win the resulting tiebreak.
It almost seemed an inevitability from that point that Sinner would go on to guide Italy to their first Davis Cup title in 47 years, which he duly did against an Australian side skippered by another former Cahill charge, Lleyton Hewitt.
Alex de Minaur, who could only win three games in his two sets against Sinner come the singles, said: “He’s got some of the hardest ground strokes, I’ve probably ever had to deal with.”
It marks a big step forward Sinner, who played and won all five of his matches in Spain last week. The next is to target a first grand slam title having made all four of the major quarter-finals and this summer reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
Of his own history-making in Malaga, Sinner said: “It is an incredible feeling for all of us. We are really happy. Yesterday we were one point from going out, now we are celebrating.” Such are the fine margins of professional tennis.
Sinner has lost just two matches from 19 since the US Open and is one of only three players currently still in action – the others being Djokovic and Rafael Nadal - to have more than 10 wins against top-five players in a single season.
Two of those wins have come against Djokovic in the space of two weeks at a time when the world No1 is playing some of the best tennis of his life.
The same can be said of Sinner, and Djokovic was quick to praise him as the player to take over his mantle along with Alcaraz and Holger Rune.
A former skier, who won national competitions as a youngster in giant slalom in Italy, he is a later bloomer than, say, Alcaraz. The question is whether he can transfer his form on indoor courts – his favourite – to the likes of Albert Park at the Australian Open in January.
Despite his wins over Djokovic, Sinner knows the Serbian remains the overwhelming favourite to win in Melbourne. But the mental frailty has gone replaced by a belief he can beat the world’s best player however dire the circumstances may seem.
