Sinner Chose Quality Over Quantity Amid Alcaraz Scheduling Disagreement

Thursday, 26 September 2024 at 09:30

Updated at Thursday, 26 September 2024 at 10:46

byZachary Wimer

Jannik Sinner is in Beijing for the 2024 China Open, and he took a different stand on the tennis calendar than Carlos Alcaraz has recently discussed.

The tennis calendar is long, and there is no denying it. It begins before January 1st, in most cases, and ends in late November, oftentimes early December. That's a very long calendar, and while not all players play the full calendar, they have to stay in shape to be able to play, so they can't take too much time off.

That's the life of a professional athlete. It's hard, it's demanding, and there is a lot of pressure, but there are plenty of rewards to reap, provided an athlete gets to a certain level.

It's not too dissimilar to any other professional career, as athletes have to work for everything. Alcaraz is a hard worker who doesn't mind long hours in the office, but he finds the calendar too long.

He's not the only player who has that opinion, nor was he the first to mention it. The vast majority of players would likely agree with him; however, Sinner has a different way of looking at things.

Asked about the calendar topic ahead of the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing, Sinner simply said that players have the choice of which events to play. There are mandatory tournaments, but outside of that, players can organize the calendar relatively well.

He's played plenty of matches this year, albeit not as many events, which he spoke about ahead of the China Open as well.

"This season has been amazing, no? I've had a lot of wins and played a lot of matches, with not many tournaments in my schedule, which allowed me to practice my body in the right way. Look, I'm just very happy to be in the position where I am right now."

— Sinner talks his 2024 season so far<br>

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Sinner has been quite deliberate with his schedule this year and managed to hold up well. Despite being known as a player with frequent minor injuries, Sinner was able to escape that this year.

He wasn't perfectly healthy the entire year, but overall, he's quite happy with where he is. Despite the season going extremely well, Sinner is not done yet. He's looking forward to the upcoming weeks because he played superbly well during this part of last year's season.

The goal is to repeat that this year, with the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup being the most important goals for him until the end of the year.

"The season is not over. There are some very important tournaments coming up, so hopefully, I will be ready. One of my main goals now is the year-end finals in Turin, and this is a very special tournament for me."

— Sinner on goals for rest of 2024<br>

"After that, there is the Davis Cup and so many things to come. I'm happy, but we still try to improve even in the last part of the season, and then we will see how it goes."