Jannik Sinner helped the Italian movement a lot
Having already reached the semifinals of Roland Garros, one can draw a first balance on the performance of the tennis players in play so far. If the top players with the exception of Novak Djokovic, who withdrew due to a knee problem, and perhaps Daniil Medvedev, who admittedly has never been a lover of this surface, have fulfilled the predictions made at the beginning of the tournament, the same cannot be said of the ‘home’ tennis players.
Ivan Ljubicic, former Croatian tennis player, now in charge of FFT’s top-level affairs, spoke about the ‘meager’ haul achieved by French tennis players, in this tournament. To get a fuller examination of their tennis movement, the former coach of Roger Federer compared it to that of Italy. He also praised Jannik Sinner.
Ivan Ljubicic reflects on Jannik Sinner
“In Italy we know the structure.
These are individual projects. Jannik Sinner has never played a day for the Federation. He has participated in group training sessions and courses, but he has never played a day for the Federation. I don’t think that at the highest levels the system is responsible.
It trains the players and their mentality, but at a very, very high level, it is above all about individual projects”, Ivan Ljubicic said, relieving the Italian system of the merits. Then he added: “The Italian Federation is there if the players need something with their structure, with services. But it is above all Jannik Sinner who lifts them up.
He is the point of reference, and that is what is missing in France. If you look at the top 200, we are better than in Italy. But when you have Sinner, then Arnaldi or Musetti, who are really strong, this helps…”, he concluded.
Sinner can be satisfied with the journey he experienced in Paris, especially considering that as of next Monday he will be the new world number one and the first Italian to sit on top of the ATP ranking.
Analyzing the last two defeats suffered by the Italian at Roland Garros, the statistics highlight an incredible backstory. In both matches that decreed his elimination in 2023 and 2024, Sinner won more points than his opponents: 198-193 in the match with Daniel Altmaier; 147-145 in the one against Alcaraz.