Jannik Sinner on Alex de Minaur win: ‘I am glad I managed to play at this degree’ | ATP Tour

Match Response

Sinner on De Minaur win: ‘I am glad I managed this degree’

Italian powers previous De Minaur in Nitto ATP Finals opener

November 10, 2024

After one month with out aggressive tennis, maybe Jannik Sinner shocked himself with the calibre of tennis he produced on Sunday evening on the Nitto ATP Finals.

The No. 1 within the PIF ATP Rankings admitted to feeling some rust within the early phases of his opening match in opposition to debutant Alex de Minaur, but it surely wasn’t lengthy earlier than he was close to his blistering greatest. After trailing an early break, Sinner discovered his rhythm and wrapped up victory in 85 minutes to kick-start his quest for a maiden trophy on the prestigious season finale. 

“I am glad that I managed to play this sort of degree as we speak,” stated Sinner, whose final tour-level match was his Shanghai Masters triumph in October. “It is an excellent begin for my facet for this occasion, for this match, contemplating I have not performed an official match in 4 weeks.

“Each match, it’s totally troublesome to play in opposition to him. He is an excellent fighter. You need to earn each level you play. Each time we play, he modifies a few issues, so I’ve to be very conscious. It is very troublesome. We do not have to see solely the end result, but additionally how the match goes.”

Sinner, who notched his Tour-leading 66th win of 2024 (alongside Alexander Zverev), is bidding to change into simply the third participant to win the Australian Open, US Open and Nitto ATP Finals in a single season (Federer, Djokovic). Together with his win over De Minaur, the 23-year-old is degree with Taylor Fritz – his subsequent opponent – on the high of the Ilie Nastase Group.

“He [Fritz] has improved loads up to now one and a half, two years,” added Sinner, who leads Fritz 2-1 of their Lexus ATP Head2Head sequence. “He’s serving a lot better [and] hitting the ball very, very arduous. He is an excellent competitor.

“I’ve to be at my high if I need to win or if I need to get shut. I practised with him initially of the week. It was a really robust observe set. It’ll be robust, this I do know. I do know that I’ve to boost my degree. Hopefully I can do this, then we see the way it goes.”