«I’m happy to be number one in the world, but now a new story is being written all over again. This is also the beauty of tennis.” In this way Jannik Sinner had commented, on the eve of his debut in the ATP500 in Halle, on his being at the top of the ATP ranking.
On June 10th the appointment with history for Jannik and Italian tennis, but in the era of the eternal present there is no time to rest on our laurels and it is necessary to take on the role of the prey and no longer the hunter.
Yes, because now in the tennis Far West Sinner is identified with the word wanted. On the Teutonic grass the first bounty hunter who wanted to collect the reward was the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
The player from the Netherlands is not a lionhearted player, just think of that fifth set lost at Roland Garros against Alexander Zverev, ahead by two breaks in the decisive set.
However, grass is a welcome element for the good Tallon and this was understood yesterday by the way in which the first set was tinged orange with a score of 7-6 (8). Down 1-5, the Orange staged an unexpected comeback and Sinner had to call on his resources. The first outing as number 1 deserved some special effects and so it was from the second set onwards. The blue player transformed his racket into a club and a magic wand, depending on the needs, managing to find the right mix between concreteness and creativity.
The way in which he managed to emerge from 0-40 in the fifth game of the second set was a masterpiece and the passers who gave him the break were pure class, in particular an eye-rubbing diving forehand shot.
Open stage applause for the Pusterese native and more energy to turn the situation around. «In the second I was 0-40 on my serve and from there I found confidence again. I think I showed some good tennis. The diving passer gave me the necessary confidence, I thought that if I had done it once, I could do it again. However, Griekspoor played a great match”, he said.
And now the next intersection with the
Hungarian Marozsan, known as the “big slayer”, recalling his success against Carlos Alcaraz in Rome in 2023. An opponent to be taken with a grain of salt and not to be underestimated, considering his unpredictable tennis.
