Some have been asking how Sinner managed to recover for Montreal so quickly after missing the Olympics.
Jannik Sinner does not want to bother himself with the criticism received over missing the Paris Olympics as the Italian tennis star says he and those close to him know how determined he was to play but that illness didn’t allow him to do so.
Just days before the start of this year’s Summer Games, world No. 1 Sinner announced he was out of the event due to tonsilitis. In his message, the 22-year-old Italian described it as “a huge disappointment” and claimed that his doctors “strongly advised me against playing.”
But some weren’t fully convinced by Sinner’s explanation and started throwing criticism and scrutiny the Italian’s way. And after it was confirmed that Sinner would play at this week’s Montreal Masters, some started posing some questions and wondering how it was possible that he recovered for the Canadian tournament but wasn’t ready to play in Paris.
Addressing the criticism received by some of the Italian media, Sinner said: “It’s a question I don’t even want to have to answer honestly. I think only my team and I really know how I felt: from the outside it’s one thing, from the inside it’s another. I especially know how I felt. I had said since the beginning of the year that my biggest goal was the Olympics, but unfortunately I wasn’t even able to get out of bed. Then honestly, what people think… let’s say I give it little importance, little weight.”
A couple of years ago, Sinner dealt with a way worse situation than now since he was healthy to play at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics but elected to skip because he felt that was the best for his schedule.
Sinner limiting his time on the phone
When Sinner announced his Olympic withdrawal, the tennis community was left shocked and saddened because the Italian is having a huge year and he would have undoubtedly been among the top favorites for the gold medal in Paris. But the entire situation was the most painful for the world No. 1 himself and the Italians who were expecting big things from him in the French capital.
Now, the Italian tennis star acknowledges he “understands” why some reacted in a certain way but wanted to put all of that behind him.
“I’m not on social media anymore, which is something that does me a lot of good. Then I read some things anyway, it’s obvious that when you open your phone there are notifications and I see something. But I also know who I am as a person and what kind of people I have around me, who all care a lot about me. Unfortunately this time it went like this, there will always be some good things and some a little bit worse, like this. I understand people’s reaction, I’m honest, but now I’m here in Montreal and what happened happened,” Sinner said.
Sinner on the state of Italian tennis
Italy doesn’t have only the top-ranked player in the world but also six top-50 players – Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti, Luciano Darderi, Flavio Cobolli, Matteo Berrettini and Matteo Arnaldi.
And in Montreal, one of the reporters wanted to know what was the secret behind Italy’s recent success.
“As I always said, we are lucky because we have junior tournaments, we have future events, and then we have a lot of challenger events in Italy, which potentially could give a chance for the young players, you know, having some wild cards, trying to understand what the level is until a certain point and talking about ranking-wise,” Sinner explained.
“Then after we have also big events. In Rome we have the year-end finals. Also Davis Cup after US Open you have in Bologna. We have a lot of movement. We have great coaches. You know, the structures are very nice build-up to get as many good Italian players as possible.
“At the moment we are in a very good position. You know, we saw that in the Olympic Games also. It was nice. Yeah, it’s just nice to see a huge part of Italian tennis coming into the tennis world. Mostly we are all very young, which is very nice. Everyone is different player. You know, it’s not that everyone plays in the same way. So, yeah, it’s very positive.”
Meanwhile, Sinner had a first-round bye in Montreal before beating former world No. 12 Borna Coric 6-2 6-4 in his opening match. Now, Sinner is set to play next against Alejandro Tabilo for a place in the Montreal round-of-16.
Since Sinner won the Toronto Masters last year, he is the defending champion in Montreal – the tournament rotates between those two cities every year.
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