Casper Ruud is waiting in the wings for Jannik Sinner: "He kicked me, I have to…"

There is Casper Ruud between Jannik Sinner and a historic sixth consecutive triumph in a Masters 1000. The Azzurro after the grueling semifinal against Daniil Medvedev, which started on Friday night and ended on Saturday afternoon, will try to regain his strength ahead of the confrontation against the Norwegian tennis player, in his first career final at the Internazionali d’Italia.

Ruud after his clear victory against Luciano Darderi spoke this way about the world number one: “It will be a tough match, the guy seems unbeatable. Jannik will be another test for me, and I hope I can take some sort of revenge from the last time we played.”

Sinner has always won in the 4 previous matches against Ruud, and last time he crushed him 6-0, 6-1 just in Rome in 2025, in the quarterfinals. “Last year he kicked my butt, now I’m going to try to make life more difficult for him.”

Sinner himself by no means underestimates his opponent, and after the match with Medvedev he was clear: “He’s playing even better tennis now. Every week is different even if you meet the same players. This is an important tournament for me and all the Italians. I just want to try to do my best.”

Winning the final would mean for Sinner to win the Internazionali d’Italia for the first time as an Italian since Adriano Panatta, who succeeded back in 1976. Panatta himself, interviewed by La Gazzetta dello Sport, wanted to frame the qualities of the world number one, also clarifying some of his earlier statements about Alcaraz: “I did not say that Carlos Alcaraz is stronger than him-I was misinterpreted. I simply said that 100 percent Alcaraz is the only one who can beat Sinner 100 percent. Sinner’s strength is not only technical: compared to everyone else, he can maintain a very high continuity of performance much longer. Sure, he too sometimes plays at 60-70 percent, but how long does it last him? A few games, maybe a set, but eventually he comes back hammering and wins, even when he’s tired.”