"I love playing under pressure": Jannik Sinner says he is ready to take on Novak Djokovic at 2023 ATP Finals

Jannik Sinner has appeared motivated and confident ahead of the 2023 ATP Finals in Turin, saying he is ready to face Novak Djokovic.

The World No. 4 has had a successful season overall, helping him to qualify comfortably for the 2023 ATP Finals. In particular, his level has looked very strong in the last month, winning the China Open and the Vienna Open to break into the Top 4 in the ATP Ranking for the first time.

As a result, the Italian player will take part in an ATP Finals tournament held in his home country, as the Top 8 players of the season - Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Medvedev, Sinner, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, and Holger Rune - all travel to Turin for the prestigious season-ending championship.

In a recent interview with Corriere della Sera, Sinner described his emotions ahead of the event, saying that he cares about doing well and is also excited to play against Djokovic in the Group Stage, despite currently trailing 0-3 in their head-to-head.

"It's a new mentality that I'm starting to get into. I like it when people get on my bandwagon. This is also why I care about doing well here. You find yourself in front of someone who has won 24 Slams, three out of four this year alone. In terms of results, the best this sport has ever had. I hope to meet him as soon as possible, already in the group, these are the important matches for the growth, the ones for which I say: I win or I learn," the 22-year-old said.

"Nole will tell me where I am at. I felt closer this year in the semifinals at Wimbledon, despite losing in three sets, than last year in the quarterfinals, when we fought to five. I can't wait. It's the matches that I train for every day, the ones that load me with pressure... Because yes, I love playing under pressure," he continued.

Sinner also explained that he puts high expectations on himself during training but that he doesn't let defeats bother him more than necessary, using his loss to Ben Shelton at the Shanghai Masters as an example of this: "After training I ask myself: did I do enough? Could I have tried harder? It's my job, I care about it. There are those who think they work too much, I always think I haven't worked enough. This is my mentality. Even when I arrive at night exhausted from tiredness, I question myself."

"I have my times, it depends. With Alcaraz in New York, when I wasted a match point, I went on to think about it for a while. But I'm not one to carry things around for days. With Shelton in Shanghai I lost at ten in the evening, there was a flight to Europe at half past one, I said: let's take it. On the plane I was already joking with the team: think about it, I missed my backhand at 4-3, it was break point... And we started laughing. I want to understand, I don't want to live with regrets," he added.