Winning is nice, doing it this way is probably even better. A sensation thatand Jannik Sinner has learned to rehearse frequently: the one won is Melbourne and the 11th ATP title in his career, certainly the most important of all those in the collection. Arrived perhaps in the most unexpected way, coming back from two sets to zero, the true specialist of impossible comebacks, even if Medvedev has a negative result in the fifth set (7 wins and 10 losses). Not bad: the substance mattered, and Sinner made the numbers come back at a time when no one would have bet a euro on it anymore.
Effective serve, variety of shots: the best version of Sinner
Waiting for the guest to Sanremo (Amadeus he will do all he can to get it: if he went there Djokovic four years ago, it’s hard to think that I can’t touch a Jannik Now), Sinner he can begin to scan the horizon again and try to raise the bar again.
A Melbourne he won, demonstrating that he was as solid as he had been on few other occasions in his life: he reached the final stage leaving just one set (in the tiebreak) against the number one in the world, remaining on the court for less than 15 hours in 6 matches. He showed tremendous progress on serve, the one who until a year ago was the weak link in the chain, and has also shown a remarkable ability to vary the shots. When he didn’t do it, you see until halfway through the second set of the final, it was pain, because you can’t give anything to Medvedev.
But just Jannik he found acceptable percentages with the first and above all decidedly more interesting response rounds, the inertia of the match was completely back in his favour. Because the Russian was almost perfect in the first two sets, but the real differentiator was Sinner’s submissive attitude, who felt the full weight of the pressure on his shoulders. Once he shook it off, the music changed, as the next three sets demonstrated.
Since October 93% of victories: no one like Jannik
It’s difficult to say what might be going on in the South Tyrolean’s head after such a clear show of strength. Sinner went where Berrettini two and a half years ago he had failed to arrive: the Roman had stopped one step away from triumph at Wimbledon, Jannik broke down a barrier (also psychological) enormous in scope. It is clear that now wherever he goes he will be the man to beat: if his opponents feared him after what he has done since October, imagine now.
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Australian Open, Medvedev celebrates Sinner: “You have grown and you deserve it”. And he makes a prediction about Jannik
From the unfortunate defeat suffered against Zverev at the US Open at the beginning of September (which was followed by renounces the Davis Cup expedition in the circles of Bologna: many who today praise him for the Australian triumph were the same ones who asked for him to be excluded from the national team, publicly lynching him for having turned his back on Italian tennis…) Sinner lost just 2 of the 29 games played. Maintaining an average of 93% of victories in the rest of the season may be asking too much, but certainly such a clear superiority from someone who was not a representative of the Fab4 (Federer, Nadal e Djokovic, and more recently Alcaraz) it was a very rare commodity.
The metamorphosis against the greatest and the next objectives
The version of Jannik admired a Melbourne it is the natural continuation of what was swept away between October and November Medvedev (three times), Djokovic (three, albeit with the knockout in the Turin final in between) e Rublev (twice).
The work done with Vagnozzi and Cahill it has paid dividends: head, legs, heart and (above all) arm now travel quickly which is a pleasure. In less than 4 months Sinner has taken over the world: the ATP 500 tournaments of Beijing and ViennaThe Australian Openthe Davis and the final of ATP Finals.
When he returns to the field, presumably inATP 250 in Marseille scheduled from February 5th (or at the latest the week after a Rotterdam nell’ATP 500) will have all the spotlight on him. But he will also have many points to defend, and this could partly complicate the most coveted climb: the one towards number one in the ranking.
A spring to hunt for number 1
While confirming fourth position, Sinner has brought the top three in the world rankings significantly closer. Medvedev today it is 455 points away, Alcaraz 945, Djokovic 1,545. The Russian is the one most at risk: last year he won a Rotterdam (in the final right up Sinner) and then also in Qatar it’s at Dubai, and therefore he will have to defend a haul of 1,250 points before going to the American spring tournaments, where he will have another 1,600 (he won at Miami, still in the final against Sinner, and lost to Indian Wells vs. Alcaraz).
Spanish between now and the end of March he will have 1,910 points to defend, and he is another one destined to lose some, unless he changes his tune after the disappointing happy slam on the scoresheet. Harder to think about achieving Djokovic: having missed the 2023 American trip, the Serbian will have to discard only the 300 points of the semifinal of the ATP 500 in Dubaiand therefore until the European clay court season (which will open in Montecarlo at the beginning of April) will be able to sleep peacefully.
Sinner instead of points to defend he will have some 1.510just under half compared to 2.850 di Medvedev, whose third place really seems one step away from capitulation. In short, if the number one will be discussed again after the clay court season (on paper the most difficult one for Sinner), at least number three appears objectively not that distant.
Fonte: Getty
2024-01-28 16:31:00
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