"He still finished as the tour’s prize-money leader, earning more than Alcaraz": Roddick and Wertheim laud Sinner's 'absurd' doping bounceback

Andy Roddick and Jon Wertheim didn’t set out to rank greatness on Served, but a discussion about Jannik Sinner’s extraordinary year inevitably led them there.

Sinner’s 2024 resume alone demands the conversation. He finished world No. 2, won Wimbledon, came agonisingly close to lifting the French Open and US Open titles, nearly ended the year as world No. 1, and did all of that despite missing three months of competition.

For Roddick, that body of work immediately raises a bigger question. “He’s automatically on the short list for best ball striker of all time,” Roddick said on Served. “Who is it? Andre? Lindsay Davenport? Sinner’s up there.”

Wertheim was careful not to rush to definitive conclusions, but the comparison came naturally. “Since Sinner, this is Andre Agassi calibre,” Wertheim said. “I’m not saying I’m ready to go there yet, but how do you define it? Consistently being able to square it up with pace, able to bully someone off the spot just by ball striking.”

Roddick agreed that definition matters. Before spin, variety or disguise enter the conversation, Sinner’s impact comes from something more fundamental. “That’s not what he does to bother people and smother people,” Roddick said. “He just gets on top of you. I think he’s in that conversation.”

What separates Sinner, in their view, is the relentlessness of his stock game. He isn’t flipping balls, changing rhythm or relying on deception. His intent is clear and brutal. “He comes out and his stock game is, ‘I’m going to get on my front foot,’” Wertheim explained. “And once I do, you can’t get away from me. There’s nowhere to go. You can’t go through him.”

Once Sinner controls a rally often starting with the return opponents rarely regain the initiative. There is, however, one notable exception. “Unless you’re Carlos,” Wertheim said, referencing Carlos Alcaraz’s ability to break patterns through spin, drop shots and movement. Roddick put it more vividly. “He’s the only person who can get out of it, the bear hug, the headlock, once he’s in it.”

Part of what makes Sinner so effective, Wertheim noted, is an athleticism that isn’t always obvious at first glance. “He is the most deceptively good athlete,” Wertheim said. “We’re not talking about Gaël Monfils and vertical highlights. We’re talking about someone who puts himself in position to dictate play.”

Sometimes athleticism shows up as highlight-reel shots. Other times, it’s subtler, getting out on the front foot, winning the first exchange in a rally, and imposing control through movement and balance.

Stepping back, Roddick called Sinner’s season “unbelievable.” Even the complications didn’t derail him. A 90-day anti-doping sanction, a subject both agreed could be debated endlessly, removed Sinner from competition, yet somehow he still finished as the tour’s prize-money leader, earning more than Alcaraz and nearly winning three majors. I hope we’ve given Sinner enough credit for what he’s been able to do,” Wertheim said. “And how he’s been able to compartmentalise.”

He challenged listeners to set aside their opinions on the suspension itself and focus instead on Sinner’s mental control. “Take three seconds. Okay, great,” Wertheim said. “Now acknowledge the ability to compartmentalise all that polarising attention, come back, and the output is the same.”

Roddick didn’t mince words. “It’s f***ing insane,” he said. “It’s absurd.”

That same capacity for growth and self-awareness, the pair agreed, defines Alcaraz as well. Wertheim pointed out that Alcaraz has openly spoken about needing extended preparation time — and, crucially, having the humility to change despite already being elite. “Being that good and then being able to check your ego to improve, that’s not normal,” Wertheim said.

Roddick was blunt about how rare that trait is. “I wasn’t even close,” he admitted. “People would tell me, ‘You need to adjust this,’ and I’d be like, ‘F*** no. This works really well.’”

The lack of ego shared by Sinner and Alcaraz, and their willingness to adapt to each other, is what elevates their rivalry. It has reached a point, Roddick said, where it’s impossible to discuss one without the other.

Alcaraz’s role in that rivalry was perhaps best illustrated in what Wertheim called a “match of the ages” — the French Open final. “I think that 12- or 13-point sequence at the end, after five and a half hours on court, is the best I’ve ever seen,” Wertheim said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.” To Wertheim, it looked like Alcaraz was playing a video game — “using himself” — at the climax of the match.

Roddick pointed to the US Open final as another defining moment, calling it peak Alcaraz to this point in his career. “He has a gear that maybe Earth doesn’t have when everything is going right,” Roddick said.

Wertheim urged fans to revisit those final minutes. “We talk about the last round of a heavyweight fight when everyone’s gassed,” he said. “You would never have known we were five hours into this high-stakes classic.”

For him, it spoke volumes about Alcaraz’s physical durability, mental strength and sheer tennis quality. “What he brought at that point was a joke, in the best possible way,” Wertheim said.

Ultimately, both men agreed that rivalry is the defining theme of the season. It fuels fans, sharpens narratives, and most importantly forces evolution. “What we’re seeing isn’t just two guys who’ve distanced themselves from the field,” Roddick said. “It’s two guys who keep improving because the other is right there.”