South Tyrol's tennis star Jannik Sinner. © APA / DYLAN BUELL

Redemptive victory: Jannik Sinner never gives up

Jannik Sinner is in the semifinals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati (USA). But more importantly: He celebrated a victory in the quarterfinals that will give him a huge amount of self-confidence.

August 17, 2024

From: det

Jannik Sinner has not had an easy time recently. The Sexten superstar was knocked out in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, then had to cancel his participation in the Olympics due to tonsillitis, before his comeback in Toronto ended in the quarterfinals. At that time, the world number one was knocked out by Andrey Rublev. Now the Russian got his comeback in Cincinnati. With a real act of will, Sinner has hoisted himself into the semifinals of the Masters 4 tournament thanks to a 6:7, 5:6, 4:1000 victory.

Sinner had already mentioned in the past few days that he was still far from 100 percent. And this was also evident on Saturday against Rublev, who is ranked 6th in the ATP computer. After the South Tyrolean had clearly lost the first set, he was already out with one foot.

With heart and passion

But then a quality emerged that has brought Sinner so high in world tennis: his mentality. He dug deep into the match, didn't let mistakes bother him, gained confidence with every point and defeated his opponent in three sets after almost two and a half hours.

Jannik Sinner has defeated his opponent. © APA / DYLAN BUELL

This victory will do Sinner a lot of good. On the one hand, because with Rublev he has defeated a top 10 player for the first time in weeks. On the other hand, because the Sextner has once again come to the realization that even if things aren't going well physically or in terms of his playing, he can hold his own against great players. And the most important message: Jannik Sinner never gives up.

Now the Pusterer will face Alexander Zverev in the semifinals. The world number four defeated the US boy Ben Shelton in three sets in the quarterfinals. The match against Sinner will not take place before 21 p.m. CEST on Sunday.