Jannik Sinner: The “super coach” doesn’t mince words—a clear verdict after the withdrawal

Jannik Sinner has decided not to compete in the U.S. Open so he can focus entirely on recovering from the knee injury that has been plaguing him for several weeks now. The Italian, who has been sidelined since Wimbledon, had previously skipped both the Montreal and Cincinnati Masters 1000 tournaments.

Super coach Rick Macci weighed in with a post on X: “Jannik Sinner has a knee problem, period. The decision not to play the US Open was the right one precisely because it was his own decision.”

“Jannik is a fierce competitor, and if he’s not 100% to play a best-of-five-set match, it’s much better to rest, train, recover, and come back stronger. A career is a long-term journey: he’s looking at the big picture, and that’s exactly why he’ll always remain a fixture at the top of tennis,” said the former coach of champions such as Maria Sharapova and sisters Serena and Venus Williams.

Here’s Adriano Panatta’s analysis: “I didn’t expect Sinner to withdraw from the US Open; clearly, he’s not at his best yet, and he’s had some bad experiences playing under precarious conditions. This time he didn’t want to take any chances,” noted Panatta, who then couldn’t resist a little joke. “The thing that makes me laugh a bit is that all tennis players say, ‘I listened to my body…’ If I listened to mine, I wouldn’t even get out of bed in the morning.”