This has been Sinner’s rise to No. 1 according to his rivals in Halle | ATP Tour

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This has been Sinner’s rise to No. 1 according to his rivals in Halle

Medvedev, Rublev, Tsitsipas talk about the Italian’s progress

June 17, 2024

You have to have more than just prodigious talent to rise to No. 1 in the world. Rising to the top of tennis also requires mental toughness, rigorous discipline and dedication to the sport. It is a difficult combination of virtues that does not ensure, even one of the greatest talents in tennis, achieving the final goal.

However, Jannik Sinner’s rise to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings has not surprised anyone, at least it has not been the case with the Italian’s rivals on the ATP Tour. At 22 years old, he is preparing to face his first tournament at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle with this condition, where many of his great rivals are part of the lineup for this ATP 500.

“The thing about Jannik is that he arrived very early,” another of the players who knows what it’s like to be No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings like Daniil Medvedev told ATPTour.com. “Everyone very quickly saw his enormous potential. The thing is that potential is always complicated. You never know if he’s going to grow, but he always seemed very professional and serious, and these are usually great ingredients for potential to explode.”

“That’s what happened. There was, perhaps, a year or year and a half in which his evolution stopped, and I think the ranking reflected that, but he has just reached another level in his game. Now he is beating many players, getting many points and winning many tournaments,” he added.

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Andrey Rublev, another of the players installed in the Top 10, agrees with Medvedev. Sinner has been faced at least once a season since 2020, the most recent duel being the one that brought them together in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open last January. For Rublev, Sinner’s great mentality has been the key to his recent successes.

“Mentally he has made a big leap,” Rublev said, when he was questioned this Monday about the Italian’s evolution over the years. “In the past, sometimes, I could be a little hesitant. Now no matter what the result is, no matter who he is playing with, he maintains the level most of the time consistently.”

“Perhaps, in a game in three months I was able to give in a little, but it is very hard to maintain it for almost half a year, as he has done. This year, I have lowered my level more than ten times! So I would like to learn those things,” he added.

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From 2019 to 2023, Stefanos Tsitsipas won five of his six Lexus ATP Head2Head duels against Sinner. Despite his success against the Italian, Tsitsipas remembers feeling that he was witnessing the emergence of a special talent.

“The first time we played, I remember very well, it was in Rome and he was very thin,” said the Greek. “He hadn’t built muscle yet, but he was very talented. He could see from his shots that he was not afraid when he played.”

“He put up a fight for me. At that time I was Top 10, I had just entered before him, and it was one of the best stages of my life. I was playing great tennis, but I felt there was a challenge on the other side of the net. Even though I won, let’s say relatively well, 6-3, 6-2, I felt that it was not an easy match. It gave me a lot of problems.”

Despite the score, Tsitsipas saw enough potential in Sinner already in 2019 to consider Sinner a player to take into account in the future.

“The first thing I thought was: this boy is going to be very good, he is going to enter the Top 10 at some point,” Tsitsipas confirmed. “I didn’t know it would be so soon, but I was sure it would be Top 10. Well, now he has risen to No. 1 in the world. His results confirm it. He has been very consistent throughout the year, showing great dedication to the sport and has had incredible victories.”

“It’s nice to see it. Even if it is not me, I am happy for what she has achieved.”

At Roland Garros last month, Christopher Eubanks met Sinner for the first time since the 2022 US Open. In both matches, victory went to the Italian in three sets, but the World No. 44 remembers being impressed in both. occasions.

“I think everyone knew it, with the trajectory he had,” Sinner warned about that duel in 2022. “Even at the US Open he progressed quite quickly. You knew he was close to getting it, it was a matter of time before it passed. He had match point against Carlos and Carlos won the US Open, so Jannik was one point away from beating the eventual champion. “Everyone knew and his rise to No. 1 was not a big surprise.”