Jannik Sinner wants to aim high at the French Open. © ANSA / Enric Fontcuberta

Roland Garros: Sinner's first test

Jannik Sinner steps onto the clay of Roland Garros on Monday. A doable task awaits in the first round of the French Open.

28 May 2023

From: do

South Tyrolean tennis hope Jannik Sinner will start one of the biggest tennis tournaments in the world on Monday at 20.15:8 p.m. CEST. After clay court king Rafael Nadal canceled the French Open, the field of favorites has expanded significantly. Normally there was no way around the Spaniard when it came to winning the tournament at Roland Garros. As number XNUMX on the seeding list, Sinner is theoretically one of those who could go far in the tournament. However, the mandatory tasks must first be completed.

Hurdle number 1 is named Alexandre Müller (ATP 101) from France. It will be the first meeting between the two top athletes and a manageable task for Sinner. However, the Frenchman is currently in good shape and prefers to play on the sandy surface. In the 2023 calendar year, the 26-year-old has recorded a positive record of 7:4 so far and has sporadically managed to advance in the qualification of various Masters tournaments. In Rome, for example, Müller reached the round of the best 64 (he lost 2:6 and 3:6 against Cameron Norrie).

Alexandre Müller serving. © Social Media

So far the clay court season has not gone as planned for Sinner. Most recently, the South Tyrolean had to accept a bitter defeat in the round of 23 against Francisco Cerundolo (Argentina/ATP18) at the home tournament in Rome, while he had to cancel the Azzurri duel against Lorenzo Musetti (ATP 21) in Barcelona due to injury. The 2022-year-old also has a score to settle at the French Open after he had to give up in the fourth round against Andrey Rublev in XNUMX.

There remains hope that Sinner can rely on his body this time. In any case, the first test awaits on Monday. The Pusterer would then meet the winner of the duel Daniel Altmaier (Germany, ATP 72) against Marc-Andrea Hüsler (Switzerland, ATP 81).