Playing a tennis match is pretty tough because there is a whirlwind of emotions involved, and Jannik Sinner shared how he deals with the bad ones after his win over Holger Rune.
It wasn't the easiest match for the Italian, who was better for most of it, but that didn't translate as well to the scoreboard. Sinner, for example, wasted two 40-0 leads on Rune's serve in the second set of their quarter-final match at the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters, which he ended up losing.
He did a very good job restarting from zero in the final set and winning it 6-3, booking another semifinal this year. He'll play Stefanos Tsitsipas for the spot in the final, but before that, he talked to the Tennis Channel about dealing with negative emotions during the match.
He was asked whether he always had a calm nature or whether he worked on it, and it's actually a mix of both. The Italian is a calm person by nature, but he's also worked on trying to remain grounded during his matches even if things don't go as well.
"I've worked to learn about my mistakes. Generally I'm a very calm guy. This is how my family and I am. I accept it a little bit faster and better."
He's not immune to negative thoughts, of course, but he explained that the focus is on trying to minimize time spent on them and just restarting from zero. Obviously, the longer he thinks about them, the bigger the impact.
"I also have these negative emotions, but it's always important to know how long you stay in those and try to get out of them. My focus is to try and stay in them as less as possible and restarting again from zero."