Jannik Sinner down on expectations for Monte-Carlo Masters: "Take this as a practice week, with matches"

Jannik Sinner doesn't see himself as continuing his incredible form at least this week at the Monte-Carlo Masters in Monaco on a surface that he is yet to fully get to grips with.

Sinner spoke to the press on Sunday ahead of the Monte-Carlo Masters where he will face either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Sebastian Korda and he believes he can be a good player on clay, but that it may take a bit of time as he doesn't yet feel comfortable fully on the surface. He called it a practice week with matches at least in this one.

The pressure will be on though with Sinner having the World No.1 spot in sight in the coming weeks and so performing on clay will be magnified.

"The expectations are are not that high for this for this beginning of clay,” he told reporters on Sunday. “The goal is to be ready for Roland Garros and then hopefully Olympics. This is…I guess for all all the players the goal, to try to be in top form there.
"We will we will take this this week as a practice week, playing with matches hopefully, hopefully more than one match but you know, it’s it’s gonna be interesting to see. I’m just happy to be here. It’s a special tournament and hopefully I can perform in in a good way.”

“I said struggling because it’s not the surface where I feel that comfortable in general,” he said. “I feel more comfortable on hard courts, which doesn’t mean that I that I’m not a good player on clay. I played my first Grand Slam quarter-finals on clay, at Roland-Garros, I made quarters in Rome.
"So let’s see. Talking about last year, (it) was not my best season long clay. Hopefully I can change it this year. But you know, I’m confident that I can be a good player also on clay. It takes time for sure.
"I used to practice a lot on clay when I was 14 to 20. But then after most of the tournaments, they were hardcourt tournaments. So you play a little bit less but you know, I’m very excited to be here. I think if you make the clay with a good friendship, it can help.”