Jannik Sinner: The ‘secret’ to Italian’s historic Sunshine Double and why Miami Open title sends a clear message

A month ago, Jannik Sinner arrived at Indian Wells with a point to prove and ground to make up. A month later, the Italian departed Miami with a historic Sunshine Double complete and a clear target in his sights.

With a 6-4 6-4 victory over Jiri Lehecka at the Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Sinner became just the eighth man to win Indian Wells and the Miami Open back-to-back. He also became the first man ever to do so without losing a single set, a run of form at the Masters events that stretches back to a third title in Paris last November. The 24-year-old joins Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as the only players to win three consecutive Masters titles, though Sinner’s record in doing so has been imperious.

Sinner’s quest to defend the Australian Open title and deny his rival Carlos Alcaraz the opportunity to complete the career grand slam was surprisingly ended by Novak Djokovic in five epic sets in Melbourne. He did not panic when that disappointment was followed by a semi-final defeat to Jabuk Mensik in Doha; acknowledging he was experiencing a “small down” following what was a stellar run of results on the hard-courts to end the 2025 season was as alarmist as it gets from the usually stoic World No 2.

The Sunshine Double presented Sinner with the chance to reset, however. The Wimbledon champion missed both tournaments last year while serving his three-month doping suspension, which meant he had no points to defend from last season. With Alcaraz stretching his enormous lead over Sinner at the top of the rankings, the Italian had identified Indian Wells and Miami as “important” events to claw himself in range of the World No 1. “We had very, very long practice days, a lot of hours,” Sinner told the Tennis Channel. “In five weeks I had one day off, before Indian Wells, and one tennis day off in Miami because it was raining. So a lot of sessions.”

While Sinner did not need to face Alcaraz at either tournament, with the Spaniard knocked out by Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells semi-finals before he was upset by Sebastian Korda in the third round of Miami, his serve has gone to another level this month. His coaching team, led by Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, have continued to make tweaks to Sinner’s serve even as he has become the most consistent hard-court player in the world and a four-time grand slam champion, a process he said required a lot of “trust and belief”.

“Being young and winning big titles, then to change [the serve], you need to be mentally quite open,” Sinner explained to the Tennis Channel. “But I want to finish my career saying I did everything possible to be the best possible version of myself. If I see these results, it’s amazing. If I serve the same way I did a couple of years ago, maybe I would not win.

“So I always try to improve and understand what’s going well and what’s not. To do so you need to have a very honest team behind you even when things are going in the right direction, to say ‘no, this doesn’t suit you very well’, or, ‘we need to change this’. I’m someone who doesn’t wait. I’m happy to do it during tournaments sometimes. And that is for sure one of my secrets. Everyone is different but this is just how I see the sport.”

In Miami, Sinner would reach his best level in decisive moments. He emerged with his run of consecutive sets unscathed after tight second-set tiebreaks against Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals and Alex Michelsen in the fourth round. But he could also suck the spirit from his opponents if he found the early break in sets, such as against Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-finals and in the rain-interrupted final against Lehecka. “He’s a great front runner and that was the biggest issue today,” Tiafoe said after his 6-2 6-2 defeat.

But for the next few weeks, Sinner will also be chasing. While he does not have long to prepare for the opening tournament of the clay-court season in Monte Carlo, he does not have any ranking points to defend until he returns to his home tournament in Rome in May, putting the World No 2 in a great position to further reduce Alcaraz’s advantage. Alcaraz, meanwhile, has 2,390 more points to defend than Sinner through to the end of Roland Garros. “Now we go to clay, and we all know how strong he is there,” Sinner said. Let’s see what’s coming.