Another walk in the park for the boss.

Sinner wants to remind everyone who rules Italy; Cobolli would like to step into the spotlight.

After the controversy over not taking part in the Davis Cup, fate hands Sinner an Italian opponent — a chance to remind everyone, if it’s even still necessary, that he’s the big boss!

Rather surprisingly, this will be the first meeting on tour between these two friends in real life. Yesterday Sinner was just too fast, too strong. Not much to say about his match; he was excellent, and we know he really likes indoor conditions where his pure tennis and ball-striking can shine, so I’m really expecting the same today. Cobolli had a good R1 against a frankly disappointing Machac, yet again. He admitted he had a fever upon arriving in Vienna and played that match without many expectations. Do I imagine Cobolli has the weapons to trouble Sinner and push him around? Not at all. Cobolli can sometimes reach quite a high level, but that honestly doesn’t seem to be the case right now, and he doesn’t have a single weapon in his game that looks capable of bothering Sinner; he simply does everything less well than his buddy.