Djokovic Studies Sinner: Vision Training Under Scrutiny

Carlos Costa, physiotherapist to Novak Djokovic, told A Bola that the Serb keeps a close eye on the work of Jannik Sinner and asks his own staff about it:

"For example, he asked us why Sinner was doing vision training and we weren't. He's constantly looking for ways to be the best in the world".

In the same interview, Costa describes a player who controls every part of the day.

"I've never seen anything like Novak Djokovic. He pays attention to every detail, even how long it takes us to hand him a towel",

says the physiotherapist, who adds one detail: Djokovic sets up small internal tests for the staff to see whether the team is truly searching for the best recovery strategies.

Vision work has been part of Sinner's routine since he was a kid. Sports optometrist Andrea Cagno, who has worked with Federtennis for over fifteen years and has tracked Italy's junior players up through the Under-18 ranks, analyzed his visual skills alongside those of Musetti and Nardi. The exercises are less spectacular than the name suggests: tracking a ball hanging from an elastic band with one eye covered, to train tracking and depth perception.

Djokovic's curiosity comes at a specific moment. The Serb went out in the first round of the US Open, beaten by Mariano Navone 7-6, 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in four hours and thirty-six minutes, his first-ever opening-round loss in New York. Sinner skipped that tournament with a right knee problem, and still sits at world number 1 for a ninetieth week at the top.

Costa also describes the other side of that curiosity.

"He loves helping younger players, he often stops during practice to give advice to other tennis players, even ones he's competing against",

he explains, naming Félix Auger-Aliassime and João Fonseca among those who have turned to him recently.