Tennis veteran Boris Becker has stated that Jannik Sinner is not one of the heavy favourites to win the French Open.
Sinner had to withdraw from both the Rome Open and the Madrid Open because of a concerning hip issue, so he was quite unsure about his condition going into Roland Garros. Before Sinner announced that he would try to compete in the second major of the year, there were serious questions about whether he would play in Paris.
Sinner easily defeated Christopher Eubanks 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to go to the second round, but Becker isn’t sure the Italian is the favourite to win the title this time around.
Becker expressed his remarks about Sinner in a recent interview and said: “Overall, clay for the moment anyway, is not his best surface. Hard courts, indoors and grass. Yes, he is a big threat on those surfaces. On clay, he has not won a big tournament yet. You look at Roland Garros last year, and Sinner had a second-round loss against Daniel Altmaier in five sets and we don’t know how fit he is right now.”
He added: “In best-of-five-set matches over two weeks, there are no shortcuts. You don’t win matches easily and quickly by serving 25 aces. So it will be tough for him. If he is fit, maybe he has a chance, but we have some questions about Sinner right now.”
With side-to-side movement so important to success at the highest level, Becker told him that difficulties can be dangerous for a tennis player.
He concluded: “He is a smart young man and he is surrounded by smart people, so I’m sure he wouldn’t play at Roland Garros if he wasn’t fit enough. It would be good to know exactly what the injury is and then we could have a better idea of of what he is dealing with, but a player will never say what the injury is as it can give their opponent an advantage. Overall, I feel Sinner is a great player and he has had a great year, but maybe he is not in his best moment on clay and we have to wait and see how he performs.”
Sinner at the French Open, ranking, and results in 2024
Ranked world no.2 (career-high), the Italian has achieved a 29-2 match record in 2024. The Italian is playing at the moment at the French Open where he bested the world no.46 Christopher Eubanks 6-3 6-3 6-4.
Jannik Sinner will square off with the world no.124 Richard Gasquet in the 2nd round. Their actual head to head record is 2-0 for Sinner.
Jannik conquered 3 titles in 2024 at the Australian Open, Rotterdam and Miami.
Jannik won 14 titles in his career: 6 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts and 7 on indoor courts. (See the list of his titles)
Sinner will play next in Halle (Terra Wortmann Open). He will start to play the tournament from the main draw that will commence on the 17th of June.
Jannik Sinner |
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