“I’m obviously disappointed in how things ended, but it’s a necessary part of my development. It seemed like a perfect fit to me. In the crucial moments of the sets he won, he performed better. That had the secret. While I’m pleased to have advanced to the semi-finals, I must admit that I was not pleased with today’s match. I now want to get better, give it my all, and see how I compare to last year’s performance in this competition. There will be another opportunity to compete here in the Olympics.”
During the post-match press conference, Jannik Sinner discussed his loss to competitor Carlos Alcaraz in the Roland Garros semifinal, which came down to a close fifth-set encounter. Sinner was only one step away from making history in the Paris Fortnight when, following a four-hour bout, he was defeated by his Spanish opponent. The Italian player put up a fierce fight against Philippe Chatrier, but it wasn’t enough to overcome his opponent, who defeated Sinner for the second time in a row and now leads their head-to-head series 5-4.
It makes sense that Sinner was exhausted at the end of the match given how many weeks he had missed due to the hip issue. It is important to note, though, that the young Italian has made progress with clay as well. This is taken into account even though he lost to Carlitos twice in a row (on two different surfaces and in two significant events, like Indian Wells and Roland Garros), which somewhat diminished his overall worth in comparison to his adversary, the Spaniard, who was more experienced than the young Italian.
During the press conference, Jannik discussed the Alcaraz rivalry and emphasized how entertaining it is to watch these matches for tennis fans.
“In highly critical matches, we always play each other in the semi-final, final, or quarter-final. In my opinion, tennis is fascinating, particularly with these close head-to-head matches. Whoever prevails is content, and the loser looks for a means to win again later. I’ll make an effort to do that. We thoroughly examine one another. We are so familiar with one another that there are occasions when you can perceive the strain. Every time we play, we have certain expectations of one another, but on the pitch, things get muddled and we end up making different decisions. Next time, we’ll play on a new surface, so things will be different. While three or five is preferable, this is also very significant. I felt tense for a while.
Tension first, cramps second. I think I handled things a little better. In previous years, I was unsure of how to manage it. Since we hadn’t played much and it happened early in the game, I wasn’t concerned about my physique. Shall I watch the final on Sunday? Watching is never easy, particularly if you are eliminated in the semifinals. It feels different than when you lose the first round because you know you might be there. I’m going to take a little break because, for three weeks, I did nothing except play for four hours every day. It’s fortunate for me that it was something I didn’t anticipate. My current top focus is to look after my health before getting ready for the grass tour,” he said in an analysis.
