'To not see Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic', says young star

In just over two years and a month, considering in this time frame also the long stop imposed by the pandemic, Jannik Sinner has climbed 300 positions in the ATP ranking. The tennis player born on August 16, 2001, in fact, was not yet of age when in February 2019 he began to be talked about by winning the Bergamo Challenger, reaching number 324 ATP. At the end of April of the same year, the first victory in a match of the major circuit had arrived in Budapest, with the simultaneous entry into the first 300 (at 298), then already in July the entry into the first 200 with the second round of Umag ( 199). At the beginning of August his success in the Lexington Challenger had taken him to 135, with his debut at the US Open in September which had raised him to 128. In October the semifinal in Antwerp had brought him to 101, with the entry into the top 100 in the second round in Vienna a week later (93). In November, his success in the Challenger in Ortisei had raised him to number 78 ATP. Then came the long stop for the pandemic, and the climb resumed in October 2020, with the quarter-finals of Roland Garros which brought the blue up to number 46. The title in the ATP 250 in Sofia last November had made him number 37 in the world, then in February 2021 the success in the ATP 250 Melbourne I had brought him to number 32, up to the 31st place reached in March with the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 in Dubai. Now Sinner will be 22nd in the event of a defeat in the final in Miami from Monday 5 April or 14th in the event of a success in the ATP Masters 1000. Rising Italian teen tennis star Jannik Sinner has shared his thoughts on the big-name pullouts at the ongoing Miami Open. The men’s draw for the prestigious Masters 1000 event was heavily depleted after a clutch of heavyweights, including the Big Three, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, withdrew citing different reasons.

Sinner on playing without the Big 3

“It’s a little bit different, this tournament, to not see big names or the biggest names (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic),” the 19-year-old said. However, Jannik Sinner added that with the top stars skipping the event, the likes of himself and others, who would have pretenders to the title otherwise, came in with the belief to “go very, very far. We came here, I think, with the right mentality, the right mindset,” the Italian said.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3fOqSS4