Former world number one
Andy Roddick believes that one reason Italy’s young tennis star
Jannik Sinner was defeated in the semifinal of the
French Open was his fitness concerns.
The 22-year-old, along with Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, is often regarded as one of the most highly-rated players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category.
Sinner recently participated in the French Open, where he lost in the semifinal to current world number two Alcaraz in a five-set thriller, with a score of 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
During the contest, the soon-to-be world number one received medical treatment for his hip. Because of a similar injury, Sinner was also ruled out of the Rome Open, which was his hope tournament.
Former world number one Roddick posted on his official account on the social media platform X—previously known as Twitter—suggesting that one of the reasons Sinner ended up on the losing side was a fitness concern.
Jannik Sinner suffered a defeat in the semifinal of the French Open to Carlos Alcaraz.
"Something to acknowledge w Sinner struggling a bit.
Both injured coming in. One w a forearm which means he can still get legwork
in. Sinner game time decision coming into RG. Tough to imagine he was able to
put in the normal legwork when dealing w a hip issue. Not all injuries act the
same," he wrote.
Interestingly, a user commented that Sinner was probably faking the injury as he was having difficulty facing Alcaraz. The comment, understandably, did not go down well with Roddick, who wrote: "Why
would he do that when leading? He pulled out of his home tournament coming into
RG…. Why is yours a suggestion that makes any sense?"
Sinner, despite the defeat, is having a fabulous season. It
was only his third defeat of the season, and because of this, he is set to overtake Serbia’s Novak Djokovic when the rankings are updated after
the French Open.