Jannik Sinner has already won seven titles in 2024, but he has no intention of stopping. The Italian ace will play three more events this year: the Masters 1000 in Paris-Bercy, the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin and the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. The worlds number 1 can get outstanding results in these events, which are all played on his favorite surface (the indoor hard court).
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To tell the truth, the 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria never had a great feeling with the last Masters 1000 of the season, where he did not catch prestigious results. The two-time Grand Slam champion made his debut in Bercy in 2021, losing immediately to a very young Carlos Alcaraz, who was already able to express an insane tennis.
In 2022, the Italian champion was eliminated already in the second round also due to an imperfect physical condition that forced him to skip the following Davis Cup Finals. Last year, Jannik defeated American ace Mackenzie McDonald in his debut but retired before the match against Alex de Minaur in the round of 16.
As fans surely remember, the match between Sinner and McDonald ended in the middle of the night and the Italian decided not to play the next day to avoid injuries a few days before the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The world number 1 has made some impressive improvements over the last twelve months and is practicing hard in preparation for the Masters 1000 at Paris-Bercy.
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Sinner's path
The draw was not particularly friendly with the Italian ace, who will have to play his best tennis to get far in this tournament. His first opponent will be the winner of the match between Ben Shelton and Felix Auger-Aliassime, while in the third round there could be a very fascinating clash with Holger Rune. His quarterfinal opponent could be Taylor Fritz - in a rematch of the 2024 US Open final - or Alex de Minaur who is trying to qualify for the ATP Finals. In the semi-final, Jannik could face Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas or Andrey Rublev, who is going through the most difficult moment of his career. A possible final against Alcaraz would be the dream of all.
The 2024 has 'forced' Sinner to grow a lot even outside of the tennis court. The World number one was involved in the doping case last April and faced a lengthy trial that is still open, due to WADAs decision to appeal against the acquittal ruling issued by ITIA. It was a period of intense stress for the 2-time Grand Slam champion, who showed enormous mental strength and ability to focus on his goals despite criticism from outside.
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A turbulent 2024
During a long interview with Sky Sport Italy, Jannik spoke about the support he received from his team and family: "There are many things that happened in this period that I tried to put aside and understand what is the right thing to do at that moment. I have to thank my team that was close to me the whole time because I needed it.
For example, Darren didn't go home to Australia and came to me, he was with me, my dad came. Thanks to them I felt safe. Protected. And that's why when I say that when you win tournaments or even matches that mean a lot, I always dedicate them to the people who are close to me, because without them I don't know how I could have overcome all of this. I'm happy with how I handled it because it was very difficult.
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Some players sided with the Italian champion and defended him, while others criticized him harshly and demanded a heavy penalty for him. This period also served to Sinner to understand who his true friends are. I am convinced that nothing happens by chance, and perhaps this chance was precisely to understand who is your friend and who is not. And I separated these two matters, the 23-year-old explained.
I understood that there are many players who I didnt think were my friends, and there is a fairly large number who I thought were friends and instead they are not. And in the end, I dont say that this did me any good, but it made me understand a lot of things. The real difficult moment in my opinion was when the news came out. And it came out in a very delicate phase because it came before a Grand Slam.
I had already wanted to train since Wednesday, the news came out on Tuesday and we decided it was better not to. We went on Thursday, in the evening, because so many people would have left. We got there and we had all the rooms on us, it was very hard. I looked at the other players to understand what they really thought. I asked myself a lot of questions, it was difficult to prepare for a Grand Slam like that.
