Australian Open, Jannik Sinner wants to forget about being the title holder
Australian Open, Jannik Sinner wants to forget about being the title holder
Sunday é already Australian Open time, and Jannik Sinner is preparing to return to his best on the Melbourne synthetic, where a year ago he won his first Slam title, beating Daniil Medvedev in a stunning comeback after initially going down two sets.
The stepping stone to "a fantastic season", enriched by victories at the US Open, ATP Finals, Davis Cup – to name the most prestigious ones – and the number 1 world ranking. Good memories, but that "è the past" emphasized the azure after yesterday's success over Alexei Popyrin in a charity exhibition match in the Rod Laver Arena. "So much has happened for me on this court and off,” he added, “I am very happy to be back in Melbourne. For us it è always important to try to 'feel' the surface, the rhythm”.
To deal with the commitment, Sinner skipped all side events, choosing to fly directly to Melbourne to play the first match of 2025. In Opening Week, the week leading up to the Australian Open and dedicated to qualifying, he sustained a tough battle with Popyrin on a hot afternoon, finally beating the world No. 25 Australian by a score of 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) and after recovering from 5-2 down in the second set. The South Tyrolean also indulged in a joke about the sudden change of climate, after the vacations spent with his family: "At Christmas I was in the snow, the first day here I found 40 degrees…".
The high temperatures of the Australian summer could be at the origin of the illness suffered in Adelaide by Sinner’s girlfriend. Anna Kalinskaya during the meeting with Belinda Bencic had to ask the doctor to intervene to measure her blood pressure and then withdrew.
In Melbourne é already working Novak Djokovic, with his new coach Andy Murray. For the Scot é a new role, after retiring at the end of the Paris Games. Djokovic, currently world No. 7, is aiming for the 11th Australian Open title and a historic 25th Slam crown. He will turn 38 in May, but the Serb wants to redeem last season, his first since 2005 without winning an Atp title. To console him é forò came the Olympic gold, the only one missing from his collection.
