"Sofia is a special place for me" admits Jannik Sinner ahead of title defence

Jannik Sinner is set to defend his title at the Sofia Open and head of the event he spoke about the significance of the event for him.

Jannik Sinner won his maiden ATP title at the Sofia Open last year and since then the Italian established himself as one of the better players on tour. His level has been up and down throughout the year but he arrived in Sofia with 3 titles on his resume looking for a 4th. Ahead of the event, he said:

“Hopefully there will be some crowds again, which helped me a lot last year. Obviously, when you win the first tournament it’s always a special place and for me it was here, so I’m very grateful to be back."

Sinner became a more consistent and better player since then and he will look to add that experience in a bid to win it again. The field this year is improved since last year so the competition will be stronger.

He reflect a bit on last year and this year saying:

“It’s great, a lot of emotions last year… This year is very different, obviously. It’d [be] very nice to see me with the trophy, but I’m here trying to defend what I did last year and for this it’s a long way to go.”

Asked where he keeps his trophy he responded:

“It’s at my home in Monaco. When I enter my apartment it’s the first thing I see on the left-hand side. It’s very, very nice when I go back at home to see some trophies and obviously the first trophy of my career.”