Sinner struggles: “This defeat hurts a lot”

There are days when something doesn't go as planned. Jannik Sinner caught one of these days on Saturday. Although the Sesto native was at least equal to his Greek opponent in the rallies, the youngster revealed obvious “weaknesses” when serving on his own. At just 19 years old, these are all too understandable - even if they particularly annoy someone: namely Sinner himself.

“This defeat hurts a lot,” said the South Tyrolean after the match and added: “Neither I nor Stefanos showed our best tennis, but he was stronger in the crucial moments.” To learn from the defeat and the right lessons To draw from this, he will watch the match “two or three times.”

That alone underlines the willingness to learn of the 19-year-old, who has already found the solution to the “serve problem”: “There is nothing left but to go onto the court, take a large basket of tennis balls and hit as many serves until they end up in the field in the match.” The Sexten player is referring to the low rate of first serves. On Saturday this was only 52%, for Tsitsipas it was 75% - a difference that Sinner was unable to make up for despite his class in the rallies. Travel home by car Instead of flying back to his adopted home of Monte-Carlo in a private plane, as many of his opponents do, Sinner will return by car on Saturday. “Tomorrow I will work hard on and off the tennis court to be ready for the next tournament in Madrid,” says Sinner.

Despite missing the final, the shooting star can console himself with 18th world ranking and his first ATP semi-final on clay. Much more important than these raw numbers, however, are the experiences that Sinner gains from matches with the best players in the world. “When I say I still have a long way to go, I’m not kidding. This week I gained new experience that will be useful for the future." With these statements, Sinner shows foresight, makes it clear that he is not satisfied with an ATP semi-final and that the best is yet to come.

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Sinner struggles: “This defeat hurts a lot”

Jannik Sinner didn't show all of his skills in the semifinals against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the ATP 500 tournament in Barcelona on Saturday. The disappointment was correspondingly great after the match.

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