There was no shortage of reactions following Jannik Sinner’s press conference. The world no.2 was eagerly awaited at the Italian Internationals, the draw for which is scheduled for today. However, the South Tyrolean will not be there. The hip problem turned out to be more serious than expected and it is necessary for him to have some days of rest before thinking about returning to the field.
Sinner did not disclose the nature of the critical issue, wanting to avoid going into too much detail. There’s that for sure his presence in Roland Garros is very uncertain and the 22-year-old from Pusteria has clearly said that he will only play in Paris if he is 100% and does not have the same problems he has now. As far as the main draw is concerned, the French Slam is scheduled to start on May 26th.
He was talking about this topic Adriano Panattaduring the last episode of Domenica Sportiva broadcast on Rai 2 HD: “Everyone is sorry that Sinner is not in Rome because he was the athlete of the moment, never in the history of Italian sport has so much communication been given to a single athlete who deserves it. It’s bad news, but I expected it because when he retired to Madrid it was clear that he wasn’t well before. I already understood this in the first rounds, where he found it difficult to beat players who normally aren’t a problem for him“, Panatta said.
The champion of Roland Garros and the 1976 Italian Internationals was clear about Sinner’s responsibilities in managing this situation: “Sinner has a very prepared team, they will have made their assessments. Certainly, if he had skipped Madrid, he would have had a better chance not so much for Rome, but for Paris and I am worried about his participation in Roland Garros. Jannik now has to sit out 15 days and face a Slam on clay (three out of five from the first round in two weeks) or you are at your best or you don’t have to go and play. He also said it, that is, competing when he thinks he is at his best for two reasons: first because if he still has any doubts about his physical condition he risks getting very hurt; second, if he is not at 100%, he can easily lose to 4/5 players, at his best he is the strongest in the world“.
Panatta then also spoke about the injury problem in the top international circuit: “These guys, Sinner, Alcaraz, Lehecka, get hurt because they shoot very hard and these rackets give the possibility of giving the ball great speed. This reasoning applies especially to Spanish and Czech. In Jannik’s case, since we are talking about hip problems, everything must be traced back to the calendar which develops 70/80% on hard courts, indoor/outdoor, which do not allow you to have a soft run. It is normal for people to get hurt and this problem especially concerns the strongest players, who always move forward, and have to change their plans. The fear of getting hurt, then, can become a worm. I hope Sinner can play well at Roland Garros, but if he doesn’t feel well he’d better think about Wimbledon and the Olympics.“.
