Praise is forthcoming from all and sundry of late for Italy’s Davis Cup hero, Jannik Sinner.
That acclaimed elasticity, finesse and pure ball-striking were on song throughout a pair of title runs and team success for the Azzurri late last season, but in his first appearance as a top-four seed at a major at Australian Open 2024, a less apparent attribute did more of the heavy lifting.
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Backed by his unofficial northern Italian cheer squad – a half-dozen bunch known as the Carota Boys, all decked out in full-body orange carrot costumes – the 22-year-old was forced to tap another of his strengths, his tennis IQ, for a 6-4 7-5 6-3 victory over Botic van de Zandschulp at Rod Laver Arena.
In his first tour-level appearance of the season, rust was expected. It forced Sinner to win with what he could find, repelling the world No.59 in two hours and 34 minutes.
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“I feel like I started off actually really well, to be honest, for the first match. Then after, I had some moments where I made a couple of wrong choices, but this can happen,” Sinner said.
“Maybe you are a little bit tired sometimes … The match feeling, it was important today for me because I was looking forward to stepping on the court.
“I think, to be honest, it was a positive opening match. I feel like best-of-five can help me a little bit. You stay on court a little bit longer. You get to play a little bit longer, which is what I like to do. Then we see in the next rounds what's coming.”
Sinner’s Dutch opponent could barely have believed a squad in orange – the Netherlands’ national colour – was cheering against him in the stands, but an early break the Italian’s way quickly clarified any questions of allegiance.
Van de Zandschulp was running out of ideas when, at five-all in the second set, a string of errors conceded the only break of the set at the most inopportune time. It was just the opening Sinner required.
He caught the US Open 2021 quarterfinalist off-guard with a cleverly-disguised angled slice forehand, which drew the error. Two points later, he held a two-set lead.
The rust resurfaced early in the third set when the Italian was broken to love on several scrappy forehands, however he quickly regained concentration and lifted the intensity to peg it back immediately.
A fifth break of the match saved Sinner having to close it out on serve.
“First match, it's never easy, but obviously we try to improve for the next round, and then we see,” he said.
“I have two days off now, so getting also a little bit more used to the conditions … At the moment, I feel quite good with the serve.
“Just trying to make the percentage a little bit higher than today. But, you know, there are days where you serve a little bit better and days where you serve a little bit less good.”
Sinner acknowledged room for improvement, but the first hurdle was cleared. There was no point looking at the pointy end of AO 2024 just yet, where a potential semifinal against 10-time champion Novak Djokovic loomed.
“It’s Sunday today,” he grinned. “It's so long to go, but for sure you are aiming for these matches.
“I feel like that there is still a lot of work to do to get to this point … Obviously we aim to play big matches in big stadiums, so let's see. It's going to be an interesting tournament.”