ATP Umag, derby hurdle ahead for Jannik Sinner

The talent from San Candido was drawn on the opposite side of Carlos Alcaraz, the number one seed.

Having disposed of the ankle problem caused by a sprain suffered during the hard-fought Wimbledon match against Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner is now close to returning to the court. After deciding to skip the Hamburg tournament to recover as best he could, the South Tyrolean is at the starting ribbons of the ATP 250 tournament in Umag. Where he comes with the credentials of the number two seed.

The scoreboard, drawn on Saturday, provides a first-round bye for the Italian tennis player, who could meet in the semifinals the tournament’s No. 8 seed, Lorenzo Musetti, who is in great form and fresh from winning his first career final in an ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg. Sinner’s big opponent in the Croatian city’s International Tennis Center facility is of course Carlos Alcaraz, who happened to be on the same side as Fabio Fognini.

Jannik Sinner, born in San Candido on August 16, 2001, despite having achieved excellent results in skiing since childhood, decided at the age of 13 to devote himself exclusively to tennis, moving to Bordighera, at the court of Riccardo Piatti. A choice that will prove successful, as Sinner is the youngest Italian tennis player ever to enter the top 100 (October 2019) and to win an Atp title in the Open era (Sofia 2020). In addition, along with Matteo Berrettini, Jannik is the only Italian tennis player to have reached at least the round of 16 in all four Slams. For him, 2022 was the breakthrough year: he left Piatti to rely on Vagnozzi.