'Not That Sharp': Sinner Finds Reasons Behind Disappointing ATP Finals Loss

Monday, 20 November 2023 at 21:00

byEvita Mueller

Jannik Sinner had high hopes for his ATP Finals final against Novak Djokovic, but it wasn't a good match from the Italian as he lost in two sets.

Sinner fell victim to the same thing Carlos Alcaraz did, underperforming at the worst possible time. Both of them played their weakest matches at the event when it mattered the most and against a player who punishes that kind of dip in form mercilessly.

Djokovic was ruthless against Alcaraz, easily crushing him, and he was equally ruthless against Sinner. It was evident pretty early that he was a step above Sinner who lamented his performance after the match.

Sinner praised Djokovic for playing well while he simply wasn't sharp enough, and that's the truth, it's as simple as that.

Well, I think today he played really, really good, especially in the back of the court. But I think today I was not that - how you say - sharp in certain moments. Felt like also that I dropped this little bit physically. When you drop a little bit against the best player in the world, he makes it look like it's a big difference, no?

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Sinner exerted a lot of energy getting to the final, especially in the match against Holger Rune, where his victory ensured that Djokovic basically advanced to the semi-final.

That fatigue caught up with him a little bit as the match went on and impacted the sharpness of his play. He didn't serve very well, which was the case the previous time Djokovic played.

I tried to stay there. I tried to serve good. I made couple of mistakes. Also maybe some concentration mistakes because like on 40-All on 4-3, I missed easy forehand and everything. Still there was a lot of tension. For one and a half sets, he served really, really good. It was tough to play.