Jannik Sinner celebrated his 23rd birthday with a cake and without having to take the court, thanks to the withdrawal of Australian Jordan Thompson. A quiet day without worries for the world number one, who instead enters his 24th year of life with a revenge to take against Andrey Rublev. Last week, in Toronto, he lost – again at the quarterfinal stage – in three sets. Now Jannik, also trying to take advantage of Novak Djokovic’s absence and Carlos Alcaraz’s sensational defeat at the hands of Gael Monfils, is trying to gain some useful points in the rankings to put more margin between him and his competitors in view of the final months of the season.
But the ranking , it must be admitted, is a topic that excites more journalists and fans, while the fundamental aspect that the class of ’01 from Sesto Pusteria is looking for is to find the best shape for the US Open that starts in just over a week. The student of Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi has reiterated it several times over the last two weeks, he feels far from 100% of the condition after the stops of the last few months and the process can only be gradual. Step by step, also because – we have seen it in recent years – the physique of the Italian needs its time. It is right to arm oneself with patience, knowing that the work already done in the past and that has borne fruit, will bring Jannik back to the top of the condition.