"They don't understand": Jannik Sinner finds support from former Italian player after US Open final heartbreaking defeat

Former world number 12 Paolo Bertolucci has come out in defence of his countryman Jannik Sinner after he received criticism from a certain section of the tennis community following his defeat in the final of the US Open 2025. The 24-year-old, who was the defending champion in the fourth and the final Grand Slam of the year, lost to the newly-crowned world number one, Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, in the grand finale of the competition on Sunday with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The most concerning thing for Sinner would be that despite coming into the match on the back of registering 27 consecutive wins on the hard court in Grand Slams since the start of 2024, the current world number two was utterly dominated by Alcaraz from the word go and never looked like he could compete against Alcaraz. Overall, it was Sinner’s fourth defeat in the final of a major competition this year, and all of those came against Alcaraz. The two first featured in the final of the Rome Masters, where Alcaraz came out on top in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-1.

A few weeks later, both met once again, this time in the final of the French Open, where Alcaraz snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and came out on top against Sinner in a five-set thrilling finale with a score of 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. Recently, Sinner was forced to retire from the final of the Cincinnati Open against Alcaraz because of illness. The final score of that match was 5-0. In between that, Sinner managed to win one major final against his competitor as well, which came at Wimbledon, where he came out on top in four sets to lift the title for the first time in his career with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Those developments left Sinner trailing Alcaraz 4-1 in the final of major competitions, i.e Grand Slams and ATP 1000 events, this year. That stat alone led to Sinner facing criticism from a particular section of the tennis community who questioned the four-time Grand Slam’s ability to get the better of his fiercest rival. Former world number 12 Bertolucci has come out in defence of Sinner and criticised the critics by claiming that they ‘don’t understand’ how to compete at the highest level. Bertolucci was of the opinion that losing a final of a Grand Slam despite being the world number one is a ‘normal’ thing.

"What can I say? They [Sinner and Alcaraz] are wonderful,” said Bertolucci while talking in the La Telefonata podcast. “They don't understand that in sports, you win and you lose. The number one losing to the world number two is a very normal thing and part of life: seven or eight times a year, Sinner and Alcaraz lose. Last night, Alcaraz played very well. Jannik didn't have much to do, and it's not a question of numbers or percentages: hats off, because when the Spaniard plays like that, you simply can't beat him."

Talking after the match, Sinner admitted that he had become too predictable, which, according to him, went against him in the final of the US Open against Alcaraz. Sinner also hinted at changing his game to make it versatile, even if it comes at a cost of slightly lower consistency.

"I was very predictable today, you know, on court — in the way of he did many things, he changed up the game," said Sinner while talking to the press after the match. "That's also his style of how he plays. Now it's going to be on me if I want to make changes or not, you know? That's definitely [something] we are going to work on. One thing is when the scoreline, you know, matches before are comfortable, but you always do the same things. For example, during this tournament, I didn't make one serve-volley, didn't use a lot of drop shots, and then you arrive to a point where you play against Carlos where you have to go out of the comfort zone. So I'm going to aim to, you know, maybe even losing some matches from now on, but trying to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player, because I think that's what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player."