Former French tennis player predicts the chances of Jannik Sinner potentially winning the Calendar Year Grand Slam in 2025
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner has to win the Roland Garros and Wimbledon tournament to complete his career Grand Slam.
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Jannik Sinner (Via X)
Jannik Sinner recently defended his Australian Open title, defeating second seed Alexander Zverev in straight sets at the Australian Open 2025 finals. While Sinner is known for his prowess on hard court, Fabrice Santoro, currently a consultant on beIN Sport, views the World No. 1 as a serious contender for the title at Roland-Garros. He also predicted that the Italian could complete the career Grand Slam this season, obviously if he escapes a suspension in his doping case.
Santoro described that last year, Sinner lost two matches on clay- the one in Monte Carlo Masters, where he was robbed by a huge umpire error in the semi-finals. Sinner was leading 4-1, 30-40 in the third set, on the serve of Stefanos Tsitsipas, whose second ball went out 20 cm. However it was not called a fault by the line judge and Sinner didn’t challenge the same.
I don’t know if he’s going to do the Grand Slam but what I do know is that he can win every Grand Slam he plays in. I was already saying that before Roland-Garros last year and he’s made even more progress since then. Last year, he lost two matches on clay: the one in Monte-Carlo, where he was robbed – I was in the stands – by a huge refereeing error in the semi-finals. He led 4-1, 30-40 in the third set, on the serve of (Stefanos) Tsitsipas, whose second ball went out 20 cm but was not called a fault by the line judge and which Sinner did not challenge. Normally it should be 5–1 and he is almost in the final the next day…
Fabrice Santoro via L’Equipe
During his second defeat, he was leading two sets to one against Carlos Alcaraz at the Roland Garros semifinal before losing 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Recalling from his memory, Santoro added that Jannik Sinner missed a very easy smash after rebound at the beginning of the fourth. He also remarked that he is not sure if Sinner would’ve defeated Alexander Zverev in the final, had he progressed to that round.
When asked about what Sinner lacks on clay, a surface where he has won just one out of his 19 titles so far, i.e. at Umag in 2022, Santoro replied that Sinner lacks nothing. He remarked that Sinner’s past as a skier helps him even more because he is never unbalanced on clay, possesses a sense of movement superior to any other player, and has an abnormal sense of sliding for a tennis player.
He reiterated the importance of movement on clay, highlighting that the last man to have won the Roland Garros without sliding was Andre Agassi in 1999, who didn’t want to get his socks dirty!
Jannik Sinner’s dominance continues to make waves
What impresses Santoro most about Sinner is the intensity he puts into each shot. He remarked that there are two ways to limit one’s mistakes when one is a little less good- slow down and round off or take some margin from the lines. He described that Sinner has a slightly new method- when he starts to miss, he takes even more margin from the lines, but the arm still moves just as fast.
Basically, the three time Grand Slam champion never slows down. Sinner finds his security in the zones, but in slowing down. Santoro added that Sinner holds his line like Novak Djokovic, defends like him, but everything he does is more violent than the Serbian. His ball is constantly whipped.
Above all, Santoro added that the last time Sinner lost a match without winning a set was in November 2023 against Djokovic in the Masters final. Last year, when Sinner lost in a Grand Slam, he went to the fifth each time and in the other tournaments he advanced to the third each time.
Sinner has never left the court without clinching at least one set for 14 months, which is huge and very revealing of his dominance. It is akin to the level of Roger Federer‘s great domination in 2004-2006 or Djokovic 2011, Santoro added as he is slightly unsure if they have done as well or better.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2614 Articles Published)