Following a contentious VAR ruling during the third round of the 2024 US Open, a video of Jannik Sinner’s girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya making the iconic Italian hand gesture went viral. The Russian’s best Slam performance to date came when she made it to the third round in New York.
Listed as the 15th seed at the US Open, Kalinskaya defeated Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round before winning 6-2, 6-4 over Anna Bondar in the second. Nevertheless, she lost 3-6, 1-6 to 22nd seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in the third round, ending her run.
Haddad Maia returned a shot that appeared to be a double bounce during the match in the first set, where the Russian was leading 2-0. The Brazilian was awarded the point by the umpire despite this.
Feeling visibly baffled about Beatriz Haddad Maia’s point award, Kalinskaya then requested a VAR replay, which proved Haddad Maia was in fact at fault. Even so, the chair umpire maintained Haddad Maia’s victory.
Kalinskaya was observed making the well-known Italian hand gesture of pinching all of her fingers together, which expressed her confusion over the chair umpire’s decision. This moment’s photo went viral on social media very quickly after it received attention.
Sinner at the U.S. Open, ranking, and results in 2024
Currently ranked no.1, Jannik owns a 52-5 win-loss record in 2024. The Italian is now having a run at the U.S. Open where he toppled the world no.140 Mackenzie Mcdonald 2-6 6-2 6-1 6-2
, the world no.49 Alex Michelsen 6-4 6-0 6-2, the world no.87 Christopher O Connell 6-1 6-4 6-2 and the world no.14 Tommy Paul 7-6(3) 7-6(5) 6-1.Jannik Sinner will square off with the world no.5 Daniil Medvedev in the quarter. Their current record is 7-5 for Medvedev.
The Italian conquered 5 titles in 2024 at the Australian Open, Rotterdam, Miami, Halle and Cincinnati.
Jannik won 16 titles in his career: 7 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts, 7 on indoor courts and 1 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Sinner is scheduled to compete next in Beijing (China Open). He will start to play the tournament from the main draw that will commence on the 23rd of September.
Anna Kalinskaya in 2024
Currently ranked no.15 (career-high), Anna played her last match on the 31st of August when she was defeated by world no.21 Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3 6-1 in the 3rd round of the U.S. Open (draw).
At present, during this year the Russian owns a composed 33-16 match record. Anna Kalinskaya’s best achievement of the present season was getting to the final in Dubai and Berlin.