Sinner 'Not Concerned' Despire Recurring Injury Issue Troubling Him In Cincinnati
ATP
Jannik Sinner made it to the 2024 Cincinnati Open final despite minor recurring physical issues, but he's not worried about it, even with the US Open looming.
Sinner has been dealing with frequent physical issues for much of his career. His physical shape has improved in recent years as he has worked on his body, but plenty more work is needed.
The Italian isn't known as a physically dominant player, but he has acknowledged a few times that he needs to become stronger. It's certainly something on his agenda, but the more pressing matters are the Cincinnati Open final and the looming US Open.
The latter one, in particular, is a goal for the Italian, but many are skeptical due to his recent physical issues, some of which were present in Cincinnati as well. However, his response to those worries was to tone them down.
He told the media that he would never endanger his participation in the US Open, even though he was seen grabbing his hip and grimacing during the match against Alexander Zverev.
The 23-year-old claimed that if he wasn't healthy, he wouldn't have been playing in Cincinnati, and the result speaks for itself, as he made it to the final of the ATP Masters 1000 event.
"I will not risk before the US Open or other bigger tournaments. For sure, sometimes I feel it (hip). I have to understand what exactly it is at the moment because I feel like it’s a different small issue than it was before."
"I have to check after this tournament. I was ill for one week-ish, then I went to Montreal and played two matches in one day."
Sinner picked up an old hip injury a few months ago during the Madrid Open. He missed the Italian Open because of it, but he made his return at Roland Garros and played well. It's worrisome that he's still feeling the hip because it's an old injury.
Sinner seems to think it's something else than before because it feels different, but it's still in the hip, and that's not good. Hip injuries and tennis careers are not on good terms, and that's the last place on the body a tennis player wants to pick up an injury.
Surprisingly, the World No. 1 player doesn't seem to be worried. It doesn't prevent him from playing, either, which is also good, but time will tell whether it becomes a major issue.
"I haven’t had so much time to recover from those two matches before coming here (to Cincinnati). I’m not worried yet, so I’m happy to play. That’s the most important. I have six good days (before the US Open) trying to recover and also work on it. So I’m not concerned."
For now, he has the Cincinnati Open final to think about, and after that, it's the US Open. In between, he will have a week to recover and then a day between his matches at the US Open. That's a comfortable setup for somebody dealing with a minor issue.
