Jannik Sinner battled his good friend Jack Draper in the 2024 US Open semi-final, and after beating him, the Italian talked about both his weaknesses and the match against Draper.
The Italian player reached the US Open final after winning the semi-final clash against Draper. It was an interesting match, but one that was mostly decided early on. Draper isn't known for his fitness, and his body betrayed him a little in this match.
He got tired fairly quickly into the match, which allowed Sinner to slowly but surely overrun his opponent, which he did. After the match, Draper was asked what he thought the World No. 1's main weakness was, and he had an interesting response, simply saying that Sinner is 'too nice.'
Sinner is certainly a lovely guy off the court, despite being a ruthless competitor on it, as he paid the same compliment to Draper when asked about the Brit's comment.
"No, that's not true. We know each other very well. We had a chance to play doubles together. We give ourselves sometimes some tactical, you know, for example, when he has to play against certain players, you know, sometimes if he asks me, I give him couple of things trying to play against."
"Obviously I know I'm righty and he's lefty, so it's completely different. Yeah, I feel like we are both very nice off the court. We are good friends. On the court, then we try to play some good tennis, and I think that's also what the crowd wants to see. So it's good."
After the match, they had a warm exchange at the net as Sinner had words of encouragement for Draper. On the question of weaknesses, the Italian had an honest answer about that, admitting that his net game is severely lacking compared to his other skills. Beyond that, he also mentioned shot selection as an area for improvement.
"Yeah, going for sure on the net, you know, sometimes I miss some volleys. Shot selection sometimes is still, I feel like I can make it a little bit better. There are also some small things, the small details what makes a big difference in high level."
"For sure, me and my team, we know what we have to improve. Like, today maybe I should have gone maybe a little bit more on the net sometimes, and all this stuff."
Overall, Sinner is still a fabulous tennis player, and everything takes time. His career has been one of gradual progression, and with time, he will improve further as a player, including his net game.
"But, yeah, it takes time, it takes -- it's not like magic, no? You have to go through certain moments. I lost matches, you know, by doing the right things and then you have to keep working on that, and then sometimes I won matches even doing the wrong things."
"So you always have to talk with your team and trying to find the right balance. So, yeah, I'm quite sure that I still can improve."
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