How does one recover after a gruelling five-and-half hour loss in a Grand Slam final, after leading it 2-0, and having three championship points in the fourth set? Jannik Sinner, who lost to Carlos Alcaraz, tries to answer as honestly as he can. It involves “sleepless nights” and time with “friends and family”.
“Often,” said Sinner in German, when asked if he had ‘mourned’ the three championship points against Alcaraz.
“I had already a few sleepless nights, but I think every day it gets better. My family stand behind me, and my friends. That is the most important thing for me. Tennis is important in my life but nevertheless are family and friends more important. Nonetheless I think often about the match,” Sinner said in German, in his pre-tournament press conference at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle. “It happens. I don’t know how it will look in the future. I think that is it is not the most important thing, but I nevertheless try to forget the negative things and see what I can do here [in Halle].
He talked about playing table tennis to get his mind away from the defeat. “I spent a few days with friends and family having fun doing simple things, like playing ping pong. For me it is important to find the time and the way to experience a bit of normality, I am lucky to be surrounded by people who care about me and love me very much”.
He is the defending champion at Halle, a grass court ATP-500 tournament. “I think that for me to play another tournament is positive, because every match is a new beginning, and I must be mentally ready to give my all on the court. Therefore, it is great I can be here in Halle … It always depends on how you manage to react and get out of it and also on what you want or don’t want to see I can focus on the missed match points or a match where I was mentally on the ball for five and a half hours”.
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