Mumbai: There was something different about Jannik Sinner on Saturday night. He did not exude his usual air of invincibility. He felt more human.
“I’m not a machine,” he would say later. “I also struggle sometimes.”
In his first two matches at the US Open, Sinner barely put a foot wrong as he stormed past opponents without conceding more than three games in a set.
But at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the third round, he came up against Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, a southpaw who plays only in the fifth gear. Though Sinner eventually battled to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win, the Italian world No.1 showed signs of vulnerability.
“You cannot always go (through) with the scoreline easy,” Sinner said at the post-match press conference. “Every match is so difficult. Every challenge is so difficult. Then there are players that have more qualities or potential, and (Shapovalov is) one of them. When he serves very well and he has very clean groundstrokes, physically very strong, he has everything to hurt players.”
Shapovalov was hitting the ball cleanly and, quite typically, powerfully. He got the first break of the set. Though Sinner pulled back when Shapovalov was serving for the set, eventually levelling it at 5-5, the Canadian once again managed to get a crucial break to win the first set – Sinner double faulting on set point.
Sinner found his rhythm in the second set to level the scores, Shapovalov got the early break to lead 3-0 in the third.
In the first two rounds, against Vit Kopriva (Sinner won 6-1, 6-1, 6-2) and Alexei Popyrin (6-3, 6-2, 6-2), The Italian seemed to be playing on autopilot. He did not lose a service game while converting 12 break points. Against Shapovalov, however, he had come up against a different calibre of player.
In the past few seasons, the 27-year-old Canadian had dropped out of the top 100 due to struggles with form and injuries. But the former world No.10 is clawing his way back to the top. He is currently ranked 29 and has won two titles this year – the triumph at the Dallas Open in February saw him beat three players then ranked in the top 10.
On Saturday, he was asking questions of Sinner and was pushing his opponent on the backfoot regularly. And the Italian, defending champion in New York, was forced to problem-solve.
Sinner remained patient in rallies while hitting heavily himself. Meanwhile, Shapovalov’s high-risk-high-reward style saw him commit more errors – including three double faults in the seventh game of the third set. Crucially for Sinner, the Italian remained steady on his own serve, winning 54 of his 64 first serve points.
From 0-3 down in the third, Sinner won 12 of the next 15 games to secure a spot in the fourth round.
“Today, I felt like from my side I didn’t struggle. I was playing great tennis, and he also,” Sinner said. “I was in a very difficult moment today. The scoreline was against me. But I tried to stay there mentally, and very happy managed to win today.”
While Sinner showed the calibre of a four-time Grand Slam champion, later in the night German third seed Alexander Zverev, among those chasing their first, lost 6-4, 6-7(7), 4-6, 4-6 to Canada No.1 Felix Auger-Aliassime. That slightly opens up the draw in Sinner’s half.
Up next though is 23rd seed Alexander Bublik, the only player not named Carlos Alcaraz to have got the better of the Italian this year. The Kazakh will come into the match having not dropped serve at the tournament so far.
Coincidentally, after their quarter-final match at the Miami Masters in 2021, Bublik told Sinner, “You are not a human.”
Sinner was 19 then, ranked 31 in the world. But he was already started to play with ruthless efficiency.
Like a machine, one would say. On Saturday though, Sinner showed he is still human.
