Monica Puig takes a direct shot at Jannik Sinner

Former Puerto Rican tennis player Monica Puig, a gold medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, spoke about Jannik Sinner’s recent struggles in an interview on the Inside-In Tennis podcast. “I heard he underwent a lot of tests in Milan to figure out what was wrong and get his body back in shape.”

“It was really strange, because he was dominating, playing at an extremely high level, and then suddenly everything changed. You could even tell by the way he walked—he didn’t seem right. It was hot, but nothing extreme. The temperatures were like those at the US Open—certainly not like in Australia. That’s why it was so surprising to see what we saw. Whether it was the heat or something else, his team absolutely needs to investigate, because this isn’t the first time it’s happened.”

“In Australia, he was lucky: they closed the roof, turned on the air conditioning, and that helped him a lot. But in New York, that wasn’t possible, because the conditions didn’t warrant invoking the heat rule, and on top of that, it was a beautiful day. What exactly happened? I don’t know. It’s up to him and his team to figure it out.”

“In today’s tennis, which is so physical and where matches go on for so long, entering a Grand Slam without being 100% is risky. We’ve seen an incredible number of fifth-set matches—almost a record. As a great champion of the Grand Slam era, you have to be prepared to endure battles lasting five or six hours. We’ve seen Rafa Nadal and many others do this countless times: reaching the fifth set with enough energy left. That’s why these signs should be a serious cause for concern for his team.”