Jannik Sinner knocked out, fans don’t take it well

“Sinner played listlessly, and that is not acceptable to me.”

Coming out of his Davis Cup clash with Mikael Ymer defeated – the Swede won 6-4 3-6 6-3 ending the South Tyrolean’s unbeaten streak in the competition – Jannik Sinner also has to deal with criticism from social media, which has always been never tender with him when it comes to pointing out shortcomings or unexpected slips.

Sunday’s fall against the Ethiopian-born athlete is no exception, commented on with posts to this effect on Facebook. “I think a commitment to the national team should always be honored. Sinner played listlessly and that does not seem acceptable to me. The bad day one does not seem to me a decent alibi. It doesn’t seem to me that when they were young Nadal or Federer ever made such figures,” said Augustine. He is echoed by Alessandro: “I saw only the first set, ..many free errors by the Italian, some gross…..believe that 2022 has been below expectations: only one 250 won..many chances thrown away…the change of coach did not have the hoped-for effects…in 2023 he can only do better (hopefully).”

Even more catastrophic is John’s comment, thundering, “He concedes too many sets to people who on paper have 100 positions less….in other times champions with the hunger for victory, they almost never concede the sets he leaves….and sometimes like today he even loses….so the hunger of the three and Alcaraz he doesn’t have it.”

In general, even in the midst of some general extenuating circumstances such as the slow surface or the low motivation for an irrelevant match, there is an air of disappointment with the performance offered by the South Tyrolean athlete, even perceived by some as not very attached to the Azzurra cause.