“This is the toughest question in tennis”: Tallon Griekspoor breaks down the real blueprint to beat Sinner

Tallon Griekspoor has offered one of the most detailed and candid tactical breakdowns any player has shared this season regarding Jannik Sinner. Fresh off defeating the world No. 1 at the Shanghai Masters—one of only three players to beat him in 2025 alongside Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Bublik—the Dutchman reflected on their rivalry and the razor-thin margins required to compete with the 4-time Grand Slam champion.

Griekspoor admitted he sees Sinner as the current benchmark on tour. “I think this is the toughest question in tennis at the moment,” he said to Tennis Bolshoi. “I think that right now Jannik Sinner is the most dominant player. He is incredibly good. He has lost six matches this year, two of which were due to injury.”

The margins were evident in their Shanghai encounter, where Sinner retired at 3–2 down in the deciding set but only after Griekspoor had pushed him to the limit. “I played with him a few times, and it was very close,” he recalled. “I have this idea in my head, which many other players do too, but it is very difficult to stick to this tactic for two, three hours… If I want to beat him, it’s basically a three-set match, because I think he’s incredible in five sets.”

What Griekspoor stressed most was the need to take the initiative, especially on serve. “I’m someone who’s quite dominant on serve; I go quite big for my serve against him. He’s the best returner in the game at this point,” he explained. “I have to play pretty hard on the second serve, because if I don’t, then the second one is tough and nine times out of ten, when it goes to a long rally, I will lose.”

Griekspoor acknowledged that pushing Sinner out of rhythm demands stepping outside his comfort zone. “I try to play pretty risky within my own limits; sometimes I even go beyond them to beat him,” he said. “A couple of times I was close to beating him and I let it slip because I went over my limits and he was just picking up and went over me.” It is a tactical high-wire act—one many opponents are simply unable to perform for long stretches.

He pointed to Alexander Bublik’s win over Sinner on grass as a model example. “Bublik beat him in Halle; I think Bublik had the perfect game against Sinner on a fast court. You need to be aggressive, you need to get him out of the rhythm, you need to sometimes go a little bit hit-and-charge on return to make him uncomfortable, and every chance you get you need to take it.” In Griekspoor's view, passivity is fatal.

His own win in Shanghai required resilience and nerve. “When I beat him in Shanghai, I saved a lot of break points. I was a set down, 4–3, 0-40 down, which I saved,” he said. “Sometimes you need a bit of luck against Jannik… I played over my limit and you have to hope he has a little bit of an off day, which he doesn’t have many times.” Sinner’s physical struggles ultimately tipped the balance, but Griekspoor believes the foundations of the upset were already in place.

While praising Sinner’s all-court dominance, Griekspoor pointed out one area where the world No. 1 still has room to grow. “I don’t think he has… net play, yeah, but he doesn’t do that very often,” he said. “He’s mainly a baseline player and I think when we see him in Australia, Indian Wells, Miami, I think his net play will improve so much, because that’s what we are all focused on so much right now.”

Off the court, Griekspoor’s name has also surfaced due to his participation in the Northern Palmyra Trophies, an exhibition event in St Petersburg that has drawn criticism due to its sponsorship and geopolitical associations. The field includes Daniil Medvedev, Karen Khachanov and Alexander Bublik, and Griekspoor’s presence reportedly aligns with his off-court relationship with Anastasia Potapova. While controversy continues, his analysis of Sinner remains the sporting headline.