By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Photo credit score: Corleve/Mark Peterson
Before Jannik Sinner secured his semifinal spot, he scaled an enormous skilled peak.
Novak Djokovic withdrew from Roland Garros immediately as a consequence of a torn medial meniscus in his proper knee.
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The Grand Slam king’s departure ends his reign as Roland Garros champion and as world No. 1.
World No. 2 Sinner, who swept Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(3) to succeed in his maiden French Open semifinal will supplant Djokovic as new world No. 1—and grow to be first Italian to carry the highest spot—when the brand new rankings are launched on Monday.
“What can I say? First of all it is every player’s dream to become No. 1 in the world,” Sinner mentioned in his on-court interview with ATP afterward. “In the other way, seeing Novak retiring here I think is disappointing. I wish him a speedy recovery.”
Continuing his season-long elevation, the 22-year-old Sinner mentioned he is thrilled to be new world No. 1 although he did not need to notice his dream on Djokovic’s damage.
“It means a lot to me for sure,” Sinner advised the media in Paris. “It’s not the way we all were expecting actually. He had two very long matches, tough matches, five sets, so it’s tough. The first one he finished really late also. You know, it’s tough also for the tournament. Novak retiring, it’s always tough.
“Talking about myself, I’m very comfortable about this achievement. It’s numerous work we put in day by day. It’s a day by day routine. Obviously comfortable to have this quantity. In two days there’s a essential match for me, the semifinals, so I’m targeted about that in the mean time. But, sure, after all, very comfortable to have this quantity now.”
While Sinner celebrates his rise to the highest of the world, he targets two targets larger than world No. 1: enhancing as an individual and as a participant to meet his prodigious potential.
“It represents a great result of work ethic,” Sinner advised Tennis Channel’s Jon Wertheim of his rise to the highest. “It was one of our goals this year, but the most important goal is to always improve as a player and as a person, surrounding myself with great people and that’s it.
“I believe I could be very comfortable and happy with what I’m doing and what my group is doing. Just trying ahead to semis in the mean time. It’s not, for certain, the best way I wished to grow to be No. 1 as Novak was retiring, however within the final interval I performed some actually good tennis. I’m comfortable to be in that place. It’s one thing new arising for me. It’s one thing good, so I’m very comfortable.”
Sinner will be the 29th man to hold the world No. 1 ranking since the advent of the ATP rankings.
The 22-year-old Sinner will ride a 12-match major winning streak into the semifinals against either Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz or 2021 French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas as Roland Garros is assured of a maiden men’s singles champion for the first time since 2016 when Djokovic defeated Andy Murray in four sets.
Australian Open champion Sinner improved to 33-2 in 2024, including an 11-1 mark on clay.
Olympic gold-medal champion Alexander Zverev said Sinner is now the game’s gold standard and could reign as world No. 1 “for the subsequent 10 years” if he can sustain the lofty level he’s delivered in 2024.
If he keeps it like that, then he’s not only going to be No. 1 in the world, he’s going to be No. 1 in the world for the next 10 years,” Zverev mentioned in Madrid final month. “But it’s up to him and it’s also up to me, up to Carlos, up to Daniil, up to Novak as well to stop him from doing that.
“Of course he is someone that we now most likely look out for, you realize, one in every of two or three gamers that we glance out for essentially the most. We research him, we attempt to perceive his recreation, we attempt to perceive what could make him really feel uncomfortable. And we’ll see if we are able to use it.”
Sinner’s rise to the top is another milestone for accomplished co-coach Darren Cahiill, who works alongside fellow co-coach Simone Vagnozzi, on Team Sinner.
House of Gucci Ambassador Sinner is the fourth player Cahill has coached to world No. 1 following Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Simona Halep.
“We began to work now almost two years now collectively. It’s clearly an enormous pleasure for me to have him,” Sinner said of Cahill. “I nonetheless bear in mind the primary week we had in Eastbourne on grass. Immediately I had good emotions with him as a result of he has numerous expertise clearly.
“I know that he brought different kind of players to World No. 1. He had great achievements also with different players. He knows how to adapt to each player, and I think this is a quality what’s amazing, no? Him and also the combination with Simone is really, really good. They’re two different coaches, but they work together really well. They are very humble, and they respect each other very much. I think the combination is very good. I’m lucky to have both of them and all the rest of the team.”
Photo credit score: Corleve/Mark Peterson
Source: www.tennisnow.com
