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 night time 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 towards debutant Alex de Minaur, nevertheless it wasn’t lengthy earlier than he was close to his blistering finest. 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 type of degree right this moment,” stated Sinner, whose final tour-level match was his Shanghai Masters triumph in October. “It is an ideal begin for my aspect for this occasion, for this event, contemplating I have not performed an official match in 4 weeks.

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

Sinner, who notched his Tour-leading 66th win of 2024 (alongside Alexander Zverev), is bidding to turn into simply the third participant to win the Australian Open, US Open and Nitto ATP Finals in a single season (Federer, Djokovic). Along 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 lots prior 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 onerous. He is an ideal 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 apply set. It should be robust, this I do know. I do know that I’ve to boost my degree. Hopefully I can try this, then we see the way it goes.”