Jannik Sinner's first trip to China is going to be an unforgettable experience, and possibly not because of his tennis.
Sinner, who admitted before the start of the tournament that he fell sick on arrival, has done a commendable job of navigating his way into a semifinal showdown against the top seed Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday. But the ill effects of whatever Sinner has been living through in the past few days have caught up with him.
Sinner was captured vomiting into a trash can midway through the third set of his quarterfinal match against Grigor Dimitrov. Sinner was noticeably unwell during his first-round win over Dan Evans. But he looked in fine fettle when he swept aside Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-0.
But the physical nature of the match against Dimitrov which went the distance appeared to take its toll on the young Italian who ended up puking, supposedly due to food poisoning as Sinner would later confirm in his post-match interview, completely unrelated to his sickness when he arrived.
"At one point I vomited, I probably ate something that made me sick."
There will be no rest for the weary as Sinner will be expected to recover ahead of schedule and in record time to face Carlos Alcaraz in an anticipated semifinal on Tuesday. Alcaraz is playing extremely well at this tournament and he hasn't dropped a set, meaning that Sinner will need to be operating in good health to have a chance.
A title win this week will almost effectively lock Sinner's place at the season-ending ATP Finals, which will be held in his home country. Sinner is currently in fourth place in the ATP Race and will clinch his berth among the eight elite in the next week at the latest if he ends up falling short in Beijing.
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