Jannik Sinner: “I would like to apologize”

“I don’t normally do that,” said Jannik Sinner immediately after his three-set win against Daniel Galan. You could tell that the youngster had something on his mind that somewhat diminished his joy about reaching the quarter-finals.

With the 7:6, 6:4, 6:3 against Galan Sinner reached the quarter-finals for the second time at Wimbledon. In the duel with the Colombian outsider, however, he initially put off frustration for a long time. Things didn't go the way the Sesto native had imagined. His counterpart gained momentum from rally to rally, while Sinner acted cautiously, tensely and increasingly nervously. The heavy favorite ultimately won the first set, but he didn't seem to be able to find a solution, especially when it came to his opponent's serve. It was only with his 15th breakball (!) that he was able to take the service away from Galan for the first time in the middle of the second set.

Jannik Sinner had a dispute with the referee twice. © APA/afp / GLYN KIRK

Before that, Sinner's anger had already been unleashed - and referee Marijana Veljovic also felt it. After an extremely controversial decision against Sinner in the tiebreak and another intervention at the beginning of the second set, the South Tyrolean had had enough. He approached the referee, protested with gestures and loudly demanded a rethink. "I would like to apologize. Normally I'm very calm, but today a few things slipped out of my mind," Sinner said in the field interview to the audience. They acknowledged his words with much applause. During the dispute with the referee, clear whistles could be heard from the stands. “I didn’t feel good somehow.” Jannik Sinner For Sinner, the verbal exchange on the sidelines was extremely atypical. Accordingly, he tried to explain himself later. “There were a few decisions that were just stupid for me. I noticed that things weren't going right for me, I was frustrated," he said, adding: "Normally we play tennis to have fun, but at that moment I wasn't having fun. That might happen, but I ask everyone for forgiveness.”

Sinner also didn't want to diminish his counterpart's performance. “It was a hard day, I didn't feel well at all. But that also made Galan really strong.”

From one opponent to the next: What does Sinner actually think of his quarter-final opponent Roman Safiullin? “I played against him in the ATP Cup last year. I won, but I still remember that it was a very tough duel. Safiullin could pose problems for me. But I want to think about these problems today ( Sunday, editor’s note ) don't think yet, they will challenge me on Tuesday. “Now I want to relax a bit,” Sinner said with a sigh.

One thing is certain: the eighth in the world rankings will go into the third to last round as the clear favorite. The 25-year-old Safiullin has never been in the main draw at Wimbledon before, but on Sunday he sensationally knocked Canadian Denis Shapovalov (ATP 92) out of the competition as ATP number 26. Now, with Sinner, a tougher and probably significantly less nervous opponent awaits on Tuesday.

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Jannik Sinner: “I would like to apologize”

Jannik Sinner is going from success to success at the most important tennis tournament in the world. But even though he was able to make it to the quarter-finals unhindered at Wimbledon, not everything is easy for the 21-year-old these days.

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