Jannik indoor Sinner

23 wins in a row, I think, indoors. The GOAT is very much present at La Défense Arena, on his way to reclaim his world No. 1 spot...

If you didn’t see their previous match, Jannik broke Zizou very early in each set, and then held his service games despite a feisty but too sloppy Zizou. No physical issues to report either, even though he cramped in his final against Zverev. As for Fran, a huge match against Kecmanovic that one might call sluggish, but I think the Argentine’s game made the Serb shine, and he didn’t actually have that many dips in level. He had to dig deep and raise his average level while keeping his playing style. It vaguely reminds me of his match against Arnaldi at the US Open when he was coming back from an abdominal injury. I think that will let him play his best tennis against Jannik, because that battle with Kecma will surely have dialed him in. However, and despite his two wins against Jannik 1.0 and on clay, he doesn’t have the profile to disrupt the Italian indoors, slow as it may be. First, because he’s used to dictating rallies—that’s his game—and he needs a bit of time to set up. Then because he doesn’t really have a Plan B, let alone the Plan B you need against Jannik, namely: mixing up his game. There’s one option left, though: stay on the baseline, take the ball very early, and take time away from Jannik—in other words, beat him at his own game. No one EXCEPT Mannarino has managed to do that. And today, we had the perfect example of a good player who unloads on every shot and even comes forward, and it still wasn’t enough. Because yes, on top of that, Cerundolo would also need to become consistent...