Jannik
Sinner achieves a new milestone in his career by reaching the semifinals of the
Monte-Carlo Masters and joins the Big-3 in making it to the semifinals of the
Australian Open,
Indian Wells,
Miami Open, and Monte-Carlo in the same year.
The Italian is having an extraordinary season so far with a record of 25-1 in
2024.
So far, he
only faltered in the semifinals of Indian Wells against the 2-times champion
Carlos Alcaraz, but he has already claimed the trophy at the Australian Open
(his first Grand Slam title) and the Miami Open.
The victory in Monte-Carlo over
Holger Rune was not only a
revenge for last year's semifinals in the same tournament, but it also marks
his fourth semifinal in 4 major tournaments of the year (one Grand Slam and 3
Masters 1000).
Sinner won his firts Grand Slam trophy at 2024 Australian Open
This feat has previously been achieved only by
Roger Federer
(2006),
Rafael Nadal (2008, 2012), and
Novak Djokovic (2012, 2015).
Furthermore, along with Nadal in 2008, they are the only instances when a
player under the age of 23 has reached these four consecutive semifinals.
It's not all for Sinner, who also boasts a record of 46-3
since the 2023 US Open and seems unstoppable regardless of the opponent he
faces. His next challenge will be against the 2021 and 2022 champion Stefanos
Tsitsipas, who is far from his best form after dropping out of the top-10 a
couple of weeks ago, although reaching the semifinals has secured his return to
the elite group.
The Greek has been playing his best tennis in several months
in a good start to the clay season, and he also holds a 5-3 head-to-head
advantage over Sinner, so it won't be an easy duel for the Italian, who has
already secured maintaining the world No. 2 ranking by the end of the
tournament and is gradually closing in on Djokovic in the race for the top
spot.
