From an Austrian perspective, it has a certain charm when the current number 4 of men’s tennis appears at the press conference in Vienna. Conversations with Jannik Sinner that are not conducted in English, but in a broad South Tyrolean dialect are almost reminiscent of events from winter sports. The 22-year-old has played his way into the top five this year with titles in Montpellier, Toronto and most recently Beijing. At the Erste Bank Open he will play for the semi-finals on Friday evening.
Vienna no longer has any influence on the goal it set at the beginning of the year to take part in the ATP Finals for the best eight players of the season in Turin for the first time. Because Sinner has already reached this milestone. “The whole year was a good one. I achieved the goal a few tournaments before the end of the season. Hopefully I can finish the season well.”
And the town hall tournament has turned into a second home tournament for him. “There are several things that are done in South Tyrol and also in Austria. Skiing, we also have German and Austrian television. In general, how we talk and the Austrians – we also get along well with our dialect.”
Sinner, who grew up in Sexten in Hochpustertal, now lives in Monte Carlo. “I’m at home very little these days. It’s also nice if you can speak a bit of the dialect. That’s why it’s great to play the tournament here.” Sinner also didn’t forget that tournament director Herwig Straka gave him a wild card a few years ago.
It is still the case that many Austrians react angrily when Sinner is called an Italian and not a South Tyrolean. “I can understand that, but I don’t want to go into details,” the youngster caused laughter.
He himself sees the issue calmly. “I left home for Italy when I was 13 or 14 and when you’re around Italian people, you feel really Italian,” says Sinner. His team also consists of 90 percent Italians. Because he lives in Monaco, he is rarely in his old homeland. “I already feel 100 percent Italian, but I grew up in South Tyrol and that will never change.”
His first Masters 1000 title in Canada and his appearance in Beijing with back-to-back victories over Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals and Daniil Medvedev in the final gave Sinner a lot of momentum. “Toronto was certainly important for me, even if the title in Beijing was perhaps even more important because of the players I beat there,” summarizes Sinner.
Sinner is not (yet) ready to attack the top three. “That’s a lot of points,” he says, referring to the gap of over 2,300 points to third-placed Medvedev. Vienna, Paris-Bercy, then Turin and the Davis Cup final tournament are still on the program.
Big goal for 2024? “Play the Grand Slams better.” Round of 16 in Australia and New York and even just a second round at the French Open were not enough for him this year. In which major is he most likely to win his first title? “I can play relatively well anywhere. Grand Slams are best of five, so you have to be mentally and physically ready.” He wants to lay the foundation for this in the important off-season.
Top 4 reached the quarterfinals in Vienna
The top 4 of the seeded list, who were in action at the Erste Bank Open on the national holiday, made it into the quarter-finals more or less challenged. Defending champion Daniil Medvedev (RUS-1) fought his way through in a high-class match against Grigor Dimitrov with 3:6.6:2.6:4, with Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE-4) just shy of elimination with 6:3.4 :6.7:5 against Czech Tomas Machac. Jannik Sinner (ITA-2) and Andrej Rublew (RUS-3), however, advanced in two sets.
The latter not only qualified for the quarter-final against Alexander Zverev (GER-5) with a 7:5,6:3 win over the Italian Matteo Arnaldi. The 26-year-old Russian is now in the field for the ATP Finals in Turin (November 12th to 19th).
The duel between Medvedev and Dimitrov was particularly worth seeing. “That was a very tough match. In the first set I didn’t feel comfortable on the court and I also missed some energy,” Medvedev admitted. Before the second set he said to himself that he had to raise his level and he succeeded. “There were some crazy points and shots and I’m really proud of myself.” Medvedev will now face his compatriot Karen Khachanow in the quarterfinals.
Before that, the godfather of Medvedev’s daughter, Andrej Rublew, was the fifth player to qualify for the “Masters” after Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner.
“That’s great news. I only found out after the match that I was now definitely qualified. “I’m looking forward to being part of one of the best events in the world again,” said Rublew. For the Russian, it is the fourth ticket to the ATP season finale in a row. Last year he made it to the semi-finals for the first time. The 2020 Vienna winner won the events in Monte Carlo, his first title at Masters 1000 level, and Baastad this year.
For now, Rublev’s focus is entirely on Vienna, and his next opponent is none other than Olympic champion Zverev. The duel against the Olympic champion cannot be seen on Friday before 5.30 p.m./live (ServusTV). Zverev leads against Rublev 5-2, but the Russian’s only two wins so far came this year. “The way he pitches, you never know what’s going to happen. He’s playing better and better now.” The key to this game is clear for Rublev: “The return.”
Later, it was only with great difficulty that Tsitsipas finally managed to reach the quarter-finals in the Stadthalle for the first time. The Greek, who had eliminated Dominic Thiem in the first round, was already behind 1:4 in the third set against the qualifier Machac.
However, the favorite, seeded number four, still recovered and prevailed 7:5 after almost two hours in front of a sold-out hall. Now he meets the Croatian wildcard player Borna Gojo. He had previously ensured the elimination of the first seed by defeating Tommy Paul (USA-6) 6:3,6:4.
Jannik Sinner could not be stopped in the match against his compatriot, lucky loser Lorenzo Sonego. The South Tyrolean won safely after 93 minutes with 6:2,6:4. He also won the fourth duel with Sonego. He has increased his great record since July to 21:4 victories, including the titles in Toronto and Beijing. He will now face Frances Tiafoe (USA-7) or Gael Monfils (FRA) – the last open round of 16 game of the tournament.
From: apa
2023-10-27 03:05:00
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