Jannik Sinner, the former world No. 1, is stunned: “I’ve never seen anything like this”

Former world No. 1 Andy Roddick, on his personal podcast, commented—somewhat surprised—on Jannik Sinner’s hard-fought victory in his Roland Garros debut against Miomir Kecmanovic. Despite a tough day, the Italian managed to come out on top.

“51 errors. He was making so many mistakes, and they weren’t just off by a few centimeters. They were off by about a meter and a half. I was stunned because I’d never seen him like that before,” explained Roddick, who nevertheless acknowledged Kecmanovic’s strength. The players he lost to at Wimbledon were Djokovic, Djokovic, Sinner, and Sinner again. So he knows how to play on grass. He was beating Jannik just by playing down the middle, which is usually a recipe for disaster.”

“I would never, ever, ever have mentioned something like that as a possibility for him, and yet it was working—but it worked because Jannik made some mistakes today, didn’t he? He made 14 errors in the first set. Right there. For him, a month or more between matches is like an off-season break. The only time he goes a month without playing—given how much he wins—is, for example, between the Turin finals and the Australian Open, so there’s bound to be a bit of rust.”

“It was inevitable that he’d be a little rusty, and when most of the talk about him leading up to this tournament is focused on the heat, heat, heat, heat, heat… no one’s talking about his game anymore. It’s all heat, heat, heat. There’s never been so much interest in the weather forecast in the history of tennis.”.

And then there was the problem with his fingernail: “That bloodstain kept getting bigger, but if there’s ever a time for a gritty victory—even an ugly one—it’s in the first round. I think he’ll improve as the tournament goes on.”