Jannik Sinner hasn't played any official ATP preparation event ahead of the 2024 Australian Open, and he explained why ahead of his official return to Melbourne courts.
Jannik Sinner is one of those players that is capable of winning the Australia. Very few people would exclude him from the list of players capable of winning the event, but the decision not to play any preparation events gave some people pause.
The Italian was asked about it a few times at the pre-tournament press conference, and he explained that he finished quite late last season, and that's true. He went deep at the ATP Finals, losing to Novak Djokovic in the final 3-6, 3-6.
He then went to Spain for the Davis Cup Final Eight and played three singles matches, including a win over Djokovic 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, and two doubles matches to lead Italy to the Davis Cup trophy. That's a lot of matches in December, and it's why Sinner's off-season looked a bit different compared to other players.
"For me last year I finished quite late. I played also Davis Cup. I had only one week of stop basically, then we started the off-season. We were there quite early. I wanted to start as soon as possible in one way the off-season. That for me was really important, for me and my body."
In a sense, this approach is a trial for the future as well because it might be something he keeps doing in the future if it goes well. He's not completely unprepared for the Australian Open, as he played two matches at the Kooyong Exhibition. He bested Marc Polmans 6-4, 6-0 and then Casper Ruud 6-2, 6-3.
"We tried also to figure out if this could be an option for the upcoming years, if this helps for me or not. As I said, I played a couple of matches in Kooyong. They're not official matches obviously, but you get this match feeling a little bit. So let's see. I mean, we will have all the answers on Sunday, then we see how it goes. But I feel quite confident to be ready for some good tennis."
0 Comments