Jannik Sinner might be one of the best tennis players in the world, but that didn't translate to wheelchair tennis, where eight-time major singles champion Alfie Hewett firmly beat him.
The beauty of tennis as a sport is that there are several variants. Of course, singles tennis is arguably the most popular. But there is also doubles tennis, mixed doubles, and wheelchair tennis in all of these variants.
Wheelchair tennis is particularly interesting because it's actually played on real tennis courts. In fact, everything is the same time as regular tennis. The net's height is the same, the court dimensions are the same, and even the racquets they use are the same.
The difference is that they play in wheelchairs, which adds an interesting twist, and the ball can also bounce twice. The matches can be quite exciting, even though the draws are still quite small.
There is a skill element to that as well, and it's definitely not easy. Jannik Sinner gave it a go at the Miami Open recently, opting to play a bit of wheelchair tennis with an eight-time singles major winner, Alfie Hewett.
The ITF filmed and posted a few of their rallies on social media, and in the video, we can see Sinner struggling a bit. Not many have seen the Italian struggle as much on a tennis court, but that's normal. He never tried it before.
The more important thing is the message this sends and the wonderful promotion of wheelchair tennis. Novak Djokovic is also one of the players who tried it in the past, and the fact that the two struggled just shows how incredibly demanding wheelchair tennis is.
When it comes to the sort of tennis he competes in, Sinner still has it, and he showed it in his fourth-round match in Miami against Christopher O'Connell.
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