Tennis players are creatures of habit and Jannik Sinner is living proof of this.
At Wimbledon on Tuesday, the world No.8 sealed his place in the last four of a major event for the first time after beating Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. In doing so he became only the third Italian man to reach this stage of the tournament after Nicola Pietrangeli in 1960 and Matteo Berrettini in 2021. He is also the first male player from his country to reach the last eight at Wimbledon on multiple occasions.
Sinner’s reward is a showdown with seven-time champion Novak Djokovic who he lost to in five sets last year. It will be only the third meeting between the two players with the 24-year-old yet to beat the Serbian on Tour.
The semi-finals will not take place until Friday which gives Sinner two days to prepare. Some may assume he would be making adjustments or increasing his training schedule considering who he is playing next. However, he has no intention of doing this.
“I will not change my pre-match routines with a two-day break between the quarter-finals and semi-finals,” Sinner said during his media conference with Italian journalists.
“We may play some points during practice but we won’t modify anything else. We will train at the same time.’
“I will cook the night before because this is what we have always done… Pasta and tomato sauce..let’s not change.”
Recovery will be key for Sinner. According to data provided by IBM, he has spent a total of just over 12 hours on the court during five matches played at The All England Club. Besides Safiullin, the only other player to have taken a set off him so far was Quentin Halys in the third round.
“I am very lucky that I can sleep for a very long time,” he said.
“If I don’t set the alarm I can sleep until noon. That’s good because sleep is the best way to recover.”
There is also another factor to take note of. Djokovic will not just be the highest seed Sinner has faced in the tournament, he will be the first he has played who is currently ranked in the top 50.
However, he has dismissed this fact by looking at it from a different perspective.
“Every player who comes this far, it must mean they are a very, very good player, no?” He said in English.
“I’ve beaten top players in the past on these courts. I take every match I can with the right attitude, trying to go for my opponent and then we see how it goes.”
Sinner is currently playing in his 15th Grand Slam.
