Jannik Sinner, the message you don’t expect on camera

Jannik Sinner managed to beat Rafael Jodar, hitting the Madrid Masters 1000 semifinals for the first time in his career. The South Tyrolean managed to prevail in two sets over the great hope of Spanish tennis, admitting that the 2006 class made him suffer more than expected. And in fact, as soon as their confrontation at the Caja Magica was over, he dedicated a message of high esteem to him, confirming it later in the hot statements.

To certify the great respect he has already developed for Jodar, in fact, Sinner dedicated to him the thought that he now traditionally writes on camera along with his autograph. And that in this case was “What a player,” meaning a round “What a player” that is worth more than a thousand words.

His actual words, however, also went in the same direction. “Jodar is an incredible player, he pushed me to the limit,” Sinner admitted in his very first words after the Madrid quarterfinal. “This was the first time I played against him, let’s just say that in the next few I will know what to expect. I am overjoyed with this match, the level of quality was high. I was also a little lucky in the second set, but now we think about the next round. To have hit the semifinals for the first time at the Madrid Open is worth so much.”

Telling the complexity of the match are the numbers of the second set, which lasted almost an hour and a quarter: Sinner had to cancel as many as five break points to the young Jodar, two in the sixth game and as many as three in the eighth, before finding his way to the tie-break. In the final game, however, the South Tyrolean was simply flawless, racking up eleven consecutive points between the twelfth game and the tie-break and not conceding a single point to his opponent in the final act, which closed with a clear 7-6(0).

It is no coincidence that the match was played with the roof closed on the Manolo Santana Stadium: as the Spanish press, and in particular ‘Marca’, had pointed out on the eve of the match, Sinner boasts extraordinary indoor numbers, with 91 wins in 112 indoor matches and an 81.3 percent success rate. For Jodar, on the other hand, it was still an unfamiliar context, with just four career matches played indoors and a record of two wins and two losses.

Jodar’s path to the Madrid tournament had been extraordinary, however, and it is worth remembering this to understand the value of Sinner’s victory. The Madrid native, born and raised in the Spanish capital, had made it to the quarters at his third career Masters 1000, eliminating in order Jesper de Jong, top 10 Alex de Minaur, Brazilian Joao Fonseca, and finally Czech Vit Kopriva with a clear 7-5, 6-0. It was a run that had made him forget, at least temporarily, the absence of Carlos Alcaraz, who was stuck in the pits due to a wrist problem, and that had prompted Boris Becker to remark, “He reminds me of Sinner, he is a very complete player.”

With today’s victory, Sinner continues his pursuit of a historic feat: the fifth consecutive Masters 1000, a goal that no player has ever managed to achieve in the past. In the semifinals, the Italian will find the winner between Arthur Fils and Jiri Lehecka, the Czech who has already proved his worth in this tournament by eliminating Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 16 with a clear double 6-3.