Sinner refuses to be defeated

It is a fact that at the age of 19 you cannot always use your full abilities and have to cross valleys on the way to the top. Sinner is also not protected from this tennis law - the Sesto native is currently feeling this firsthand. Everything no longer works so easily, the pressure becomes noticeable. The dress rehearsal for the French Open Sinner had made a mistake , and at the Grand Slam he also showed nerves at times in the first round, but ultimately lived up to his role as favorite. After a real show of strength and around 3:35 hours of playing time, Sinner was able to beat the 30-year-old Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert (ATP 85) in 5 sets 6:1, 4:6, 6:7 in the first round of the French Open , 7:5 and 6:4.

First things first: Jannik Sinner, who appeared on the Court Suzanne Lenglen at 11 a.m. sharp on Monday, was not at all similar to Jannik Sinner, who lost to Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (ATP 125) in Lyon about a week ago. As if completely new, the youngster acted with the right mix of risk and control right from the start. The forehand went well, the backhand anyway - and the serve gave the South Tyrolean many free points. In short: Sinner played perfect tennis - in contrast to his counterpart, who tried to break Sinner's rhythm with variations. The result was a crystal clear first set, which Sinner won 24-6 after just 1 minutes. Herbert improves His coach Riccardo Piatti in the stands also knew that Sinner couldn't maintain this incredible level (8 winners and only one unforced error) for three sets. And Herbert actually put the youngster under pressure at the beginning of the second round with powerful returns - and broke him when the score was 1:1 to zero. Sinner responded immediately with the re-break, but the experienced Herbert didn't let it bother him and took the world number 19. a few moments later the serve again. The break was synonymous with the double specialist's equalization of the set, because while Sinner was now much more spread out, Herbert acted with greater self-confidence - 6:4.

The experienced Pierre-Hugues Herbert ultimately had to admit defeat. © APA/afp / MARTIN BUREAU

The few but loud spectators in the stands also saw this image in the third set: an almost unstoppable Herbert put Sinner under immense pressure when he served, which caused the Sexten player to start to ponder. This resulted in many mistakes and a more passive game. To make matters worse, Sinner also called the physiotherapist onto the pitch to measure his body temperature. However, he gave the all-clear, the 19-year-old continued playing - and fell behind with an almost hopeless score of 2:5. When the set seemed over, Sinner used everything in his bag of tricks, caught two breaks and took the lead 6:5. Nevertheless, he lost the round in the tiebreak. Herbert won this game 7:4 - also thanks to the active help of the visibly unhappy South Tyrolean. Sinner strikes back In the fourth set, both served their serves more or less confidently for a long time without having to fend off a break point. Until the 8th game. Herbert and Sinner had a varied and exciting exchange of blows, the Frenchman led 40-0, but missed all 3 break chances. The 30-year-old then left two more break points unused and Sinner was able to equalize to 2:4. With the score at 4:4 and his own serve, Sinner finally fended off a match point and equalized again.

Inspired by the match point he fended off, Sinner showed his strongest tennis in this phase of the game and created two break chances in the 10th game - and immediately took advantage of the first. With the first break in this set, the youngster from Puster took the lead 6:5. He then confidently served his own serve and converted the first set point to make it 2-2.

The game could hardly have been more exciting. The momentum at the beginning of the fifth set was on the side of the 19-year-old, who now lived up to his role as favorite. In the first game of the set he took the Frenchman's serve. Then both served their serves. When the score was 5:4 for Sinner, the young man from Sexten missed the break and match point. In the tenth game of the decisive set, the 19-year-old acted with experience and strong nerves: thanks to flawless tennis, he took the lead 40-0 and used the second of three match balls.

This was the end of a real tennis thriller, which brought certainty: Jannik Sinner can also deal with difficult situations. For the young man from Sexten, this was the first 5-set win in his career. In the second round, the 2-year-old will face the Italian Gianluca Mager on Wednesday. He defeated the German Peter Gojowczyk in 19 sets. Sinner and Mager have never competed against each other before.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Hockey

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

Sinner refuses to be defeated

Jannik Sinner has once again shown what mental strength he has. He made an impressive comeback in the first round of the French Open on Monday.

Suggestions

Comments (0)