Jannik Sinner will return to the tennis courts at the 2024 Rotterdam Open and defend his unbeaten record against Botic van de Zandschulp.
The Dutch player is a very interesting tennis player who broke out in recent years and became a regular Top 50 player on the ATP Tour. He's hit his peak in the meantime and regressed a bit, but he'll always make a tricky opponent, especially indoors.
The style of play is simple: be aggressive and attack, which works well in these conditions, though Rotterdam is a notoriously slow indoor court. That suits Sinner perfectly, as he demonstrated last year by making the final.
The Italian has been amazing this year, with a perfect 9-0 record with the Kooyong Classic exhibition matches, but even without them, he's 7-0, so unbeaten. With the Australian Open trophy in his cabinet, Sinner will arrive in Rotterdam feeling invincible. But is he?
Yes and no. He should be pretty safe in this matchup because he does everything his opponent does well, even better. There might be some rust after not playing for a while, but the conditions in Rotterdam should give him enough time to figure things out.
After all, he was in a similar position just a few weeks ago when he faced the Dutch player in the first round of the Australian Open. He didn't wow anybody, but he got the job done in straight sets, and I definitely think he'll do that again.
Jannik Sinner | Botic van de Zandschulp | |
1 | H2H | 0 |
4 | Rank | 63 |
22 | Age | 28 |
7-0 | 2024 W/L | 3-4 |
197-74 | Career W/L | 80-69 |
Van de Zandschulp could possibly keep it close with a tremendous serving performance, but eventually, Sinner will apply too much pressure on him, and he will play an erratic game, and that will be it. So, basically, back Sinner to get this done pretty comfortably.
Prediction: Jannik Sinner to win in two sets.