"It's scary" - Jannik Sinner's 'aura & invincibility' similar to  Djokovic, Federer & Nadal, claims American ex pro

Former American ATP pro Steve Johnson has compared 2025 Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner to three all-time greats of the sport and suggested that he is fast becoming invincible on hardcourts. Johnson was speaking in the wake of the World No. 1's crushing defeat of Alexander Zverev in Sunday's final.

Sinner took the match 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 without yielding a break point and thoroughly dominating his German opponent throughout. He has now won the last three hardcourt Grand Slams and looks unbeatable on the surface. He even out-served Zverev, taking away the World No. 2's most potent weapon.

On the latest episode of his Nothing Major podcast, Steve Johnson declared that Sinner is fast becoming as feared a competitor as tennis's three most recent legends: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer:

"It's really impressive and his aura, his invincibility, in these Slams is potentially growing to the point of the Novak's, Rafa's, and Roger's - at these Slams where it's going to take a monumental effort to beat somebody three (sets) out of five," Johnson said (at 18:52).

Steve Johnson is a former US No. 1, who played professionally between 2012 and 2024, amassing four ATP Tour and nine ATP Challenger Tour titles, and a doubles Olympic bronze medal at the 2016 games in Rio.

Since hanging up his racquet he, alongside fellow ex-pros Sam Querrey, John Isner, and Jack Sock has launched the Nothing Major podcast, covering all things tennis.

Steve Johnson and John Isner agree that Jannik Sinner's game is tailor-made for hardcourt

Australian Open 2025 - Source: Getty

Led by John Isner, the former ATP-ranked World No. 8, and Sam Querrey, No. 11, the podcast started in the middle of 2024 and has now run for 30 episodes.

When the show was still in its infancy, Isner was interviewed by pickleball.com, where he lauded the podcast's early success.

"We have a lot of fun with it. We may be retired, but we’re still relevant to the game, and getting to know all the players on tour like Taylor Fritz through this podcast has been good. And it’s just a good excuse to get together and talk with the boys.”

Elaborating on Sinner's dominance, Johnson felt that his game was built for a hard court. His ability to slide in all directions and make perfect contact with the ball suggests Johnson, is unrivaled - perhaps in the history of the sport:

"It's hard to compare generations and generational talents, but, I don't know - he might be the best mover and striker of the tennis ball combined, that I've ever seen. Like, he can go 20...he can run side to side 20/30 feet, forwards, backward, left, right, whatever it might be, and hit the absolute c--- out of the ball, and never feel like he's in a defensive position."

The Italian's final win was all the more notable for the fact that he so comfortably defeated the world's second-best player, who barely laid a glove on him across the three sets. Sinner now goes into the rest of the season with his opposition needing to deal with that aura of invincibility, even before they've struck a tennis ball.