The final boss

Can Felix hold his own against Sinner?

Two meetings this season and two wins for Sinner, with a few differences all the same. In their match in Cincinnati, FAA was nowhere to be found—he got dismantled, couldn’t respond, a 6-2 6-0 loss that simply reflected the gap in level between the two. Then they met again at the US Open under very different conditions, and this time we saw the best version of Felix: the Canadian was stringing together high-level matches and there was at least the semblance of a contest. He took a 6-1 in the first set, then produced a legendary second set—I still remember it. Exceptional serving, passing shots, a monstrous forehand—he threw everything at Sinner for a set before settling back to a more typical level and logically losing afterward. Two takeaways: first, Sinner likes Felix’s game, and in any case almost everything depends on him. Second, when he plays his absolute best, FAA can bother him for a set, but not necessarily more. The Canadian can have a bit of hope indoors thanks to his serve—he’s been serving rockets this week—and if he manages to scrape through a few service games, then maybe we’ll have a match. After all, it’s a best-of-three and the conditions are perfect; he won’t get a better opportunity. But it still comes back to Sinner, who’s operating in his own category: he just beat Shelton 6-3 6-3 and Zverev 6-0 6-1—it’s scary. I’m not forgetting that Shelton is just coming back and without his serve he has no way to beat Sinner, and Zverev was injured/spent. The scorelines were harsh, but this time Sinner faces a fresh and dangerous opponent. Is this when he drops a set? It’s possible, but you’d need the best version of Felix for a whole set, and I’m not even sure that would be enough—everything depends on Sinner.