Rennae Stubbs found a similarity between Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys’ performances from their respective Australian Open finals.
The World number one successfully defended the title at Melbourne Park and after dropping just two sets throughout the tournament.
On the other hand, Madison Keys overcame Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka in successive matches to win the first Grand Slam title of her career.
After watching both finals, Stubbs explains what Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys did similarly, despite winning their matches in different ways.
Jannik Sinner was dominant in the Australian Open final as defeated Alexander Zverev 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3.
In Saturday’s championship match Keys secured victory over two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in an early match of the year contender.
Despite their contrasting victories, Rennae Stubbs analysed their performances and highlighted one thing which Keys and Sinner both did extremely well on the way to winning the Australian Open.
“Every time a big point came around Jannik hit an accurate serve and got a free point off an unreturned serve or an easy ball plus one,” she said on her self-titled podcast.
“So his anxiety level when he was 0-30 down, he goes bang, bang, bang, bang. Whereas Zverev might have got 83% in and served great, but he is not as accurate.
“If you look at the statistics of where his serve bounced, he is within about a three foot range of the sideline, whereas Jannik is one foot.
“The difference is that at the speed they serve, if he is hitting the serve that accurately, he is really under no pressure on his serve so the anxiety level is less.
“You are like I can serve my way out of trouble. Kind of like Madison Keys the other night, she was able to serve her way out of trouble.”
Sinner’s improved serve is one of the reasons for the level of tennis and consistency he is now producing.
This was a key shot against Zverev, as the 23-year-old won 84% of his first serve points, and 63% behind his second serve.
Sinner is also just the fourth player to win a Grand Slam final without facing a break point, further highlighting his abilities on serve.
In the women’s final, Keys came up with crucial serves to keep her nose in front in the deciding set against Sabalenka.
The American won 69% of her first serve points, while Sabalenka managed just 60%, and Keys also saved five of the eight points she faced on the way to a monumental victory.
Related Topics
Great Britain's Cameron Norrie fought from a set down to reach the third round at Indian Wells but top seed Alexander Zverev was d
His coach Brad Stine says that these types of big goals are what keeps the New Jersey native motivated. “There are still a lot of things within the sport tha
The latest setback for Nick Kyrgios has the Australian tennis player wondering aloud about his future. A nagging wrist injury forced an emotional Kyrgios to r
The 2025 Indian Wells tournament is well underway as the stars of the WTA Tour search for success in the Californian desert.Several top stars will believe they