Jannik Sinner’s season will resume in Montreal next week
Jannik Sinner’s season will resume in Montreal next week. The Italian will be the main favourite for the victory in Canada, also because of the multiple absences due to the Olympics in Paris. There will be no Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, as well as several very strong players such as Lorenzo Musetti, Alex de Minaur, Sebastian Baez, Jan-Lennard Struff and others.
The 22-year-old Italian will be under a lot of pressure as he will have to defend his 1,000 points from last year when the tournament was played in Toronto. The 2024 Australian Open champion arrived in Canada well in advance and will also play the doubles tournament alongside Briton Jack Draper.
The world number 1 is playing the best season of his young career and his level has been very high in the last 9-10 months, allowing him to win his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne and his second Masters 1000 in Miami in the spring. Physical problems have been affecting him again in the last month and a half, preventing him from getting better results at the French Open and especially at the Wimbledon Championships (where he was eliminated by the Russian Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals). When the news came that Sinner would not participate in the Paris Olympics, there was a lot of controversy in Italy. The Italian had already missed the Tokyo Olympics three years ago and was one of the main candidates to win the gold medal in Paris.
Jannik Sinner’s draw
Jannik Sinner wants to start winning again and the Canadian Open is the perfect opportunity to achieve this goal. One of Jannik’s big goals is definitely to finish the year at the top of the ATP ranking. In Montreal, Sinner will have a bye in the first round and will make his debut against the winner of the match between Pedro Martinez and a qualifier.
In the third round, the Italian could face Tallon Griekspoor, Frances Tiafoe or Alejandro Tabilo. In the quarterfinals there would theoretically be number 5 of seeding Andrey Rublev, who is experiencing one of the worst moments of his career. In that draw zone is also the American Tommy Paul, who reached the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics. In the semi-final, the most likely opponent for Jannik is Daniil Medvedev, who will have to be very careful of Stefanos Tsitsipas. Possible opponents in the final are Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov or Hubert Hurkacz.
Jannik is ready for every challenge
“I’m very happy to be back here. I didn’t play very well two years ago so hopefully I can play a little bit better. But let’s see,” Sinner said before the start of the tournament. “I feel like the court from here and Toronto, they’re very similar in one way, maybe here it’s flying a little bit more. But I’m just happy to be here, the atmosphere is amazing always. It’s just a different number. Me and my team, we try to make the process, our daily routine, to make everything in the best possible way and just try to be ready for every challenge that comes up,” Sinner said at the draw ceremony. “I’m very happy to come back here. It started off from last year semis of Wimbledon and then I came here for the first Masters event I won. I’ve been very consistent throughout one year and that’s at least what we will try to do in the next months also” – he added.
The Italian ace is still very sorry to have missed the Paris Olympics: “I saw some of the Olympics, although I didn’t watch much tennis. It broke my heart not to be able to go to Paris, the Games were one of my main goals of the season. In the end though, looking at everything from a broader perspective, Musetti won a bronze, so an Italian is happy and I am happy for him. Let’s hope for gold tomorrow. I don’t know what my schedule will be like tomorrow yet, but if I have time, why not, I’d be happy.”
Sinner will have to defend many points in the second part of 2024. In addition to the 1000 points he won in Canada last year, the Italian will also have to defend his titles won in Beijing and Vienna. Last year, Jannik also reached the final at the ATP Finals in Turin. The 2024 Australian Open champion will have to be especially careful of Carlos Alcaraz, who did not shine last year during the indoor season. The young Spaniard had not won any titles after Wimbledon last year.
