2023-11-15 01:30:39
He knows Jannik Sinner who hasn’t won anything yet. Not even in these ATP Finals nor, in fact, in his career. What it can become in the coming times. Hence his way of celebrating victories is sparse, limited to a raised fist and a half smile despite a Pala Alpitour standing for him. He unleashed himself to the extent of him with his arms raised in triumph over a Novak Djokovic who arrived hungry at this time of the year, with the seventh crown between his eyebrows. One of the best of his career because he had never unraveled the Serbian. And he does it in a big way, in three hours and 9 minutes, in a great game that is physically and, above all, mentally demanding, where the Italian has taken an enormous leap in quality.
Jannik Sinner 7 6 7 Novak Djokovic 5 7 6
With the staff accustomed to the craziness and explosive growth of Carlos Alcaraz, it would seem that the career of Sinner, two years older than the Spaniard, was too small. But the Italian knew well where to go, what he had to do, and he understood that he would have slower growth, but just as powerful.
Calm, a worker who understands that perfection is achieved every day, always measured in his words, self-critical when he has to be, aware that he still has a lot to learn. He moves away from the prototypes of Italian tennis players, and not only because of his appearance or style, but also because of the slow and deliberate walk that has led him to be a threat with controlled hunger and ambition.
In his bedside book there are phrases like “either I win or I learn” or that confession after losing at Wimbledon: “Maybe I’m not ready for this type of match yet.” Words that have shaped his good work in tennis.
The Italian is ready to face the heights that, still because of his physicality, he has not been able to achieve. Five-set matches seem long for him and he has been shipwrecked even when he had two sets in his favor. But after three sets, a relentless tennis player is being formed. Against Djokovic he gave a wonderful demonstration of how to reverse the Serbian’s attacks with a temperate hand, patience, security and good ideas well executed.
Djokovic had already suffered against an explosive Holger Rune, but he still knows how to control his impetus in that mental game in which one is the master, even if he breaks rackets as therapy, and the other gets too tangled. But Sinner is not Rune, and there was no advantage in the mental game. Controlling the tempo and emotions, especially those of others, in which the Serbian moves very well, the Italian did not enter uncontrolled. On the contrary, he knew how to find in Djokovic that crack that he sometimes leaves ajar to get into his head and start to unravel him.
Sinner warned in the eighth game, but it was Djokovic and he took a forehand at 138 kilometers per hour from his arsenal, when on average he had hit the ball at 127 throughout the course, to thwart the break option. The Serbian also had his option in the next game, but the Italian’s hand did not tremble to make an impeccable drop shot, who also has plenty of resources and mental freshness to know when to activate them.
And where the Serbian has always felt comfortable, in the limits of the sets, where the twenty-somethings were always gripped by fear, is where the Italian showed all his bravery. Break option in the eleventh game that this time not even Djokovic’s supersonic forehand can lift. It’s a set in favor of Sinner, but it’s much more. There are ten consecutive points in which he leaves Djokovic blank. It is confirmation that he is ready to take control of tennis.
Another three hours
More nervous than usual, the Serbian because he could not find the appropriate strategy to overwhelm the Italian, appealed to rage in the second set, hands towards the stands to ask for whistles, because in that mud he knows that Sinner does not fit. He also appealed to doubts, with that call to medical attention with 4-3 to massage and relax his right shoulder. And it worked. He had lost a tie break against Rune, but Djokovic did not want to lose more, he is king in this section, not for nothing did he chain 13 at the beginning of the course. Only a small mismatch condemned Sinner, to the delight of Djokovic’s box and Djokovic himself, who had already come to a boil with the public, the way he took energy from him.
But it was of no use against the Italian, who responded with equal force to the rival’s fast and forceful games. On an equal footing, the Serbian’s threats were dismantled with a mettle that is not seen in the rest of his promotion, everything was decided in another tie break. And where others tremble, this Sinner does not. A good serve, a deep return, a passing and an overturned and unleashed square, in the purest Davis Cup style, with the Si-nner, Si-nner, the local idol signed one of the best victories of his career, after three defeats against the Serbian.
Without rushing, Sinner has developed a potential of which we are only seeing the beginning. Ten titles, still no 1,000 Masters, still far from the great covers of the Grand Slams. But there it is coming. With firmness, exquisite tennis and, above all, an extraordinary head. He already unravels a Djokovic in full swing, who will play the semi-final against Hubert Hurkacz, who replaced the injured Stefano Tsitsipas. And the best is yet to come.
#ATP #Finals #Sinner #unravels #Djokovic