Tennis’ newest mentalist: Jannik Sinner rises from Paris agony to Wimbledon glory | Tennis News
London: How do you, when beaten to the ground, bruised and busted, get back on your feet? Jannik Sinner knows. The 23-year-old wore his pain plainly in Paris, seated at his court side space, having finished at the wrong end of the five-hour 29-minute epic against Carlos Alcaraz. Five weeks later, on a dazzling Sunday in July, he punctuated a five-match losing streak against his arch nemesis, and brought a rivalry to life on Wimbledon’s lawns. No tennis player has crossed the channel with greater purpose than Sinner, turning the Paris heartbreak to a memorable hurrah, his fourth Major title, and first in this leafy London suburb. The mental miles the 23-year-old Italian covered in the five weeks must anoint him as the sport’s newest mentalist.
On the wall of the players’ entrance to Centre Court are the words from If, a Rudyard Kipling poem: “If you can meet with triumph and disaster/ And treat those two impostors just the same.” In terms of expression, Sinner doesn’t give much away, no passionate celebration like Alcaraz on Paris’ red clay, just a smile that sparked his eyes. The turnaround was scripted during a stretch that features a diabolic switch of surfaces, from stubborn red clay to slick grass. It was when the Italian picked himself up, and in washing away the stains of squandering three successive match points, he underlined the size of his fight. There were big questions surrounding Sinner’s morale coming into Wimbledon. “This is the part I’m the proudest of because it has not been easy,” said Sinner, who tried to take positives from his loss in Paris. “It’s much better that you lose a Grand Slam final that way than someone kills you, you make two games.” The Italian’s coaches — Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi — discussed Roland Garros threadbare with Sinner for about 24 hours after the final but didn’t bring it up again thereafter. “For us it was important to move forward as quickly as possible,” Cahill said. “The week leading to Wimbledon was the best practice week we’ve ever had as far as attitude and form. We knew we had something special coming in. We knew that he had already put Roland Garros behind him. He was playing with real purpose. You could see that from the first match that he played, he wasn’t carrying any baggage from Roland Garros.” Following his win on Sunday, the world No. 1 leaves London with a hefty 3,430-point lead over Alcaraz. Sinner’s struggles of the last six months — when he served a three-month doping ban (February to May) for testing positive for anabolic agent clostebol — included the reactions of the locker room, most of who weren’t supportive of the Italian. A large section of the players thought the four-time Major winner had been treated favourably, add to that the vitriol directed at him on social media, and he was wading through murky waters. The 23-year-old, a methodical creature, turned to work, shrugging the weight off his shoulders. “We’ve tried to push at every practice session, I was struggling at times mentally,” Sinner explained. “Maybe even more in practice sessions because I feel when I play the match, I can switch off and just play.” Sinner’s win on Sunday was significant as much for himself as for this young rivalry. While the Italian is obviously too good a player to never beat the Spaniard again, the five successive losses across a near two-year stretch was beginning to gnaw. Sinner said, “When you lose several times against someone, it’s not easy.” Cahill pinned Sinner’s victory to the details. “You saw a bit more energy from him in the big moments, a bit more focus to knuckle down and make sure that when he had his nose in front, he kept on closing the door against Carlos,” the Aussie said. Vagnozzi added, “He was brave today, in the important moments he was really brave.” Alcaraz, the charismatic Spaniard, now leads the rivalry 8-5, but these numbers become irrelevant on the court where the margins are infinitesimal. Also, Sinner and Alcaraz are a level above the rest of the field. “Our level is really high, we don’t watch a level like this when other players are playing against each other,” Alcaraz said. “This rivalry is becoming better and better. We’re building a really great rivalry, we’re playing in the finals of Grand Slams, Masters, the best tournaments in the world. It’s going to get better and better.” That’s the bargain the Italian spent a little over three hours on Sunday signing on.
