Jannik Sinner lost to Daniel Altmaier at Roland Garros and John McEnroe had some very strong words about the match.
McEnroe counts himself among Sinner's biggest fans on the tennis Tour due to the way he plays tennis. It's just a spectacle to watch because there are not many players that are capable of hitting the ball as well as Sinner can.
He demonstrated quite a bit of that at Roland Garros this year but ultimately he blew it. There is no other way to explain it because he had two match points and he didn't use them. After the match Sinner admitted that pressure and expectations got to him. McEnroe was very disappointed with the result and he told it like it is when talking to Eurosport.
I think that’s when you're proud to be a tennis player. You know, when you see guys go at it for that long and that hard, you hate to see someone lose. I mean, Sinner had it on his racquet, match point and then blew it and lost the four set. And then you're thinking, well he’s still going to win it?
But he gets down, and then it looks over, he's saved for four or five match points, breaks for god’s sake at 5-4 and then loses his serve, and then looks like he's going to break again. Those matches are the ones that stay with you for months if not years. I mean, those are tough to get over.
When Barbara Schett discussed with Alex Corretja that the young Italian was a bit unlucky in the match, the retired American couldn't help but intervene.
No, he choked. You tell me. Let’s go to Eurosport.com and all you fans watching can decide whether he should have won this point. Come on, that should have been over.
It was a very hard one to lose for Sinner and certainly one that he will remember but it wasn't the worst loss of his career. The most painful one is probably the one against Alcaraz at last year's US Open. He can now turn his attention to the grass season. He did really well on it last year so perhaps he goes deep at Wimbledon this year.
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