“See how simple it is to treat people with the required respect” – Fans applaud Jannik Sinner’s calm reaction to time violation in Indian Wells 3R
Jannik Sinner received a time violation during his third-round victory over Ben Shelton at the 2024 Indian Wells Masters on Tuesday (March 12). The World No. 3, however, refused to get into a war of words with chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani and let it shake his focus, which left his fans enamored.Sinner started his third-career encounter against Shelton on a good note, getting off to a 5-4 lead in the opening set after an early break of his American opponent’s serve. The Italian failed to serve out the set, though, eventually needing a tiebreaker to decide the set.
At 2-0 up, the 22-year-old took his dear time with his serve preparation, as he felt one of the balls given to him wasn’t bouncing well enough. However, the chair umpire, Mohamad Lahyani, didn’t know about the situation, prompting him to hand a time violation warning to the third seed.This didn’t go down well with Jannik Sinner, who marched towards the chair umpire to explain why he didn’t serve right away. After some deliberation, the Italian calmly said to Lahyani:
“Keep the time violation, but it isn’t right.”
Sinner didn’t let the interaction wear on his mind. He eventually clinched the tiebreaker and the match 7-6(4), 6-1, improving his head-to-head record against the American to 2-1.Fans on X (formerly Twitter), meanwhile, expressed pride in the reigning Australian Open champion not behaving rudely with Lahyani despite the seemingly unjust time violation, with one writing:
“See how simple it is to do the bare minimum and treat people doing their jobs with the required amount of respect.”
Jannik Sinner has been in red-hot form since losing in five sets to Alexander Zverev in the fourth round of the 2023 US Open. The Italian has gone 35-2 in his last 37 singles matches on the ATP Tour, winning titles at Melbourne, Rotterdam, Beijing and Vienna, while also guiding his country to their first Davis Cup title since 1976.Sinner has taken some big scalps during the above run, beating Novak Djokovic (2024 Australian Open semifinal, 2023 ATP Finals group-stage, 2023 Davis Cup semifinal), Daniil Medvedev (2024 Australian Open final, 2023 ATP Finals semifinal, 2023 Vienna Open final, 2023 Beijing Open final), and Carlos Alcaraz (2023 Beijing Open semifinal).The only players the 22-year-old has lost to since last September are Djokovic (ATP Finals’ championship match) and Ben Shelton (Shanghai Masters Round-of-16).Moreover, the World No. 3 is currently on a 15-match unbeaten streak and will hopefully extend it when he takes on 32nd-seeded Jiri Lehecka in the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells Masters.