Jannik Sinner lets loose but knows Sunday will be tough
Jannik Sinner spoke warmly after his victory over Zverev earned him the final in the Indian Wells tournament: “It is a great result. It’s my first final here after three semifinals and it’s important for me. I am really happy. It’s also the tournament I had to skip last year. The next match will be tough but I am satisfied with how I played during this week, which is the most important thing. The performance was great”.
The’South Tyrolean also identified the technical key that allowed him to prevail in two sets: “The game plan was to give great importance to the response, but everything also depends on the feeling on the court. I tried to change the position in reception. Every match against Zverev is a difficult test: it was a challenge I was eager to play and I am happy with how it went”. In the final, Sinner will face the winner of the second semifinal between Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev, a confrontation that in recent times has turned into a true circuit classic and has often seen the Murcian get the better of the Russian.
The worst moment was perhaps before the match, when Sinner stopped during the warm-up due to back discomfort. After the physiotherapist intervened, the match started and in the end there was almost no match. The Azure had already won the previous five against the German, and on each of those occasions curiously he then lifted the trophy (Cincinnati in 2024, Australian Open, Vienna, Paris and ATP Finals in 2025). The hope for Italian fans is that history will repeat itself this time as well.
The answer will come Sunday at 11 p.m. (Italian time). Sinner is going after his sixth Masters 1000: his trophy case already includes Toronto, Miami, Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris, while he just misses Indian Wells Masters to complete the collection of top-ranked tournaments (after Slams) on concrete.
The other Masters 1000s, namely Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome, are played on clay. In any case, the disappointments of Melbourne and Doha are definitely behind us.
