Jannik Sinner admits that putting too much pressure on himself contributed to his shock second round exit from the French Open on Thursday.
The world No.9 lost an epic encounter against Germany’s Daniel Altmaier that lasted more than five hours. Sinner had two match points during the fourth set but failed to convert both of them. Then in the decider, the Italian broke his opponent when he was serving for the match at 5-4 before losing his serve once again in the following game. Throughout the match, he had 21 break point opportunities but only managed to convert six of them. Furthermore, his 62 winners were cancelled out by 75 unforced errors.
“I think I put too much pressure on myself. I knew I could do very well in Rome and here, and maybe having such high expectations puts too much pressure on myself, maybe I need to think in a different way,” Sinner said in Italian during his press conference. “I was not my usual self on court today, that inner smile I always have when I am on court, it was not there today. I should have been happier to be in the position I was in.”
It is the earliest exit the 21-year-old has made from the French Open in his career. In 2020 he made a dream debut at the event by reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Rafael Nadal. At the time he was the youngest male debutant to reach the last eight at Roland Garros for 15 years. Then in 2021 and 2022 he reached the fourth round of the tournament.
Some have suggested that an injury issue which ruled Sinner out of the Barcelona Open last month has hindered his preparation for the tournament. However, he has insisted that this is not the case.
“I felt very prepared for here. Mentally I felt good. Physically we were working hard,” Sinner said. “Long, long practice sessions. It’s tough when you work so hard and you don’t take the reward. But this is not a sprint. This sport is a marathon. I will keep going with the hard work, and I will also get my rewards. This was, it’s a tough one, yes, but it doesn’t end here.”
As for the coming weeks, perhaps a change in mentality is needed for Sinner when it comes to playing the biggest tournaments of the sport. He has won seven ATP titles but six of them have been at 250 events.
“Maybe in these two tournaments (Rome and Roland Garros) I was searching for good results, and this is what came out. Maybe I’m not the type of guy who has to aim for or have very, very high expectations for myself,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Altmaier will play 28th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the next round on Saturday.
