Mumbai: On a dull, rain-hit evening in Miami, Jannik Sinner conquered the “Sunshine Double.”
In winning the Indian Wells and Miami Masters in the same season, he became the eighth man to do the double, but the first to win both events without dropping a set, as he beat Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-4 in the final in Miami on Sunday.
“It means a lot to me,” the 24-year-old told Tennis Channel after the win. “(Winning) the Sunshine Double for the first time, it’s incredible. It’s very, very (difficult).”
The two ATP 1000 titles he’s won in March add to the growing list of accolades the world No.2 and four-time Grand Slam champion boasts. But more importantly, it has come at the right time for him.
Through the course of the 2025 season, Sinner’s rivalry with world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz was the main storyline at all the big events in the sport. And rightly so – they have shared each of the last nine Grand Slam titles between them, going back to the 2024 Australian Open.
In Alcaraz and Sinner, the two best men’s singles players in the world at the moment, there is also a clash of styles.
But after the Italian lost the US Open final to Alcaraz, Sinner realised he needed to get out of his comfort zone to add something new to his arsenal.
“I’m going to aim to maybe even lose some matches from now on, but trying to make some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player,” he said after the US Open. “Because I think that’s what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player.”
Granted, there has been a noticeable tendency by Sinner to come up to the net a bit more frequently than he did in the past, especially on faster courts. But the biggest change he has been working on that started to pay dividends at Indian Wells and Miami was his serve.
In the pre-season ahead of 2026 though, he worked on bringing more consistency in the ball toss, shortening the length while getting it to rise to the exact same height and place regardless of where he intends to hit the serve. He’s managed to find good rhythm on it at Indian Wells, where he hammered 51 aces. But in Miami, he perfected it with 70 aces across 12 sets.
“I want to finish my career saying that I did everything possible to be the best possible version of myself,” he said. “If I see this kind of results, it’s amazing. If I was serving the same way as maybe a couple of years ago, maybe I would not win. I always try to improve, try to understand what’s working well and what’s not.”
According to statistics published by the ATP, Sinner’s career first serve percentage is 60.4%. The number improved to 67.5% in 2026. In Miami, ahead of the final, he had reached 70.8%. In the final against Lehecka, he won 92% of his first serves (33 of 36), with 10 of those coming in aces.
In the process, Sinner has now extended his own world record of most consecutive sets won at the ATP Masters level to 34, going back to the Paris-Bercy in October last year.
It also puts him back on the winning track going into the clay season, though he is not concerned with not winning the title at the Australian Open and Qatar Open.
“When I lose I don’t want to put myself under the bus, because that wouldn’t be fair to me,” he added. “I’m just trying to be honest with (myself, losing the) semi-finals of a Grand Slam (he lost in the last four stage in Melbourne) is a great result. You can lose against Novak (Djokovic), that’s the best player in history. Doha was a bit different… I went there trying to win but also trying to understand what the right way is to play tennis.”
In the past four weeks, he seems to have found his perfect plan.
