Sinner treads water at the highest level · tennisnet.com

For a sentence it looked as if Jannik Sinner could continue his winning streak in the final in Rotterdam against Daniil Medvedev. But Medvedev turned out to be the more mature player and took the title home from the Netherlands. Jannik Sinner, on the other hand, still seems to be missing the last bit to land where many experts want him to be: namely at the top of the world rankings.

Admittedly, it’s really complaining at a high level when you criticize a player after winning a tournament a week ago and taking part in a final. But in the case of Jannik Sinner, it is also a piece of praise. Because it shows the potential attributed to the South Tyrolean.

For a long time in the final in Rotterdam it looked as if Sinner could win his second title in a row. He had already been successful in Montpellier last week. But Daniil Medvedev proved too ripped off to give Sinner the second title in a row.

So the fact remains that Sinner keeps showing his extraordinary talent, but two things are missing that make him an even bigger player: Firstly, the consistency in small to medium-sized tournaments and secondly, the really big throw in a Grand Slam, namely a title. Now, one can argue that so many players of his generation feel the same way. That they simply cannot break the dominance of the “old men”, above all Novak Djokovic. But when Sinner played his way forward, many experts believed he would have a similar impact on professional tennis as Carlos Alcaraz. The experts repeatedly emphasized his mental strength in particular. He plays incredibly mature for a teenager. “Future number 1”, this title has been awarded to him again and again by many experts.

Impressive win against Tsitsipas

In the last two years, however, the development of the 21-year-old has stalled. Also affected by injuries but he didn’t quite manage to live up to the high expectations placed on him. At the Australian Open this year, after a good performance against Stefanos Tsitsipas, he failed in the fourth round and had to check off the Down Under tournament again as a missed opportunity. But when he impressively dominated this Stefanos Tsitsipas in the week of Rotterdam with 6: 4 and 6: 3, Sinner seemed to be completely on track. Especially with the tournament victory in Montpellier in the back.

The defeat against Medvedev is now (again) a step backwards. Sinner is not a giant, but a player with giant potential. There it is again complaining at a very, very high level. But Jannik Sinner brought that on himself with his talent.

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Djokovic Novak

Daniil Medvedev

Senser Jannik