Richard Krajicek reveals an anecdote about Jannik Sinner

Richard Krajicek reveals an anecdote about Jannik Sinner

Next week Jannik Sinner will return to the court to play the Rotterdam ATP 500, and Ubaldo Scanagatta, for his site Ubitennis, interviewed the man who è has been the tournament director for 21 years, Richard Krajcek, former world number 4 and winner of the Wimbledon tournament in 1996. The Dutchman of course also spoke, in this mile-long interview, about the Australian Open winner from South Tyrol. Here are excerpts from the’interview about him.

“There’s a feeling that Sinner can win, he’s playing great tennis, last year he lost only in the final to Medvedev in a great duel and this year Medvedev anyway is not participating, he just beat him at the Australian Open. If è okay physically, as I hope, let’s see. Sinner will be è already here on Friday to test the courts and he will play the first match on Tuesday or Wednesday, so he won’t show up directly only on Monday at the last, è totally dedicated, prepared, plays well, not many can beat him at the moment… no one at least in the last tournament he played”.

“I don“t know him very well, I crossed paths with him years ago in Monte Carlo when he was very young and Piatti told me ‘this is going to be; a champion’, and he was right. I know he attended an event in downtown Turin with Alcaraz and there’è was a crowd bath, last year the attention was almost only for Alcaraz. I think the two of them are the most beloved young people right now. I also know his agent well, Lawrence Frankopan, who è a delightful person and only works with players who are just as delightful. As a player, well è a great player. The only doubts might have been on the physical level, last year he was tired in Rotterdam for the final the week before but you could see that in the final against Medvedev the legs were not turning. He had a great growth I think evident with the win in Vienna and the match in Davis against Djokovic where he won having 3 match points against him. For me those two matches made it clear that he could win a Slam”.

“For Sinner, contrary to what it was for me, having a great serve è an extra: he moves very well and has very good, solid groundstrokes. However now the serve, when he needs it, is there è è. Even Djokovic, when he gets his serve, has it, but he doesn’t stand there hitting a hundred aces a game. He puts it in the important points, like Sinner… Simply, when you have such solid fundamentals, you don&’t need it. Physically also, the stress and strain on the shoulder è huge and so probably the career è longer for players who are not ‘big server’, you don’t have that pressure of having to ace every point”.

“I think Djokovic and Sinner are two different players. I don’t play against them so I can’t say because I don’t feel the ball, pero from what I see on TV I can say that the three players who shoot the strongest are Alcaraz, Sinner and  Rublev. The latter has a different game, but if we look only at the power of fundamentals I would say these three. For varietyà of game, yes, Sinner and even more so, Alcaraz. Also this guy è amazing, I remember the Indian Wells final against Medvedev where he played serve and volley since Medvedev was always behind the baseline and I thought ‘ah he can do that too’. Sinner also è improved a lot, and I think a lot of that is thanks to Cahill”.

“Who canò put him in difficultyà in Rotterdam? Among the participants I would say Hurkacz, who has a great serve, and maybe those who can hold the exchange from the back, I don’t know physically how he’s going to be, but also a De Minaur if the match goes long. In general, I would say they can bother him more; people who serve well like Safiullin, Hurkacz, and not many others. Yes maybe I would say Hurkacz becauseè if he serves well è dangerous”.