Sinner using Monte Carlo Masters ‘as practice week’…
Jannik Sinner has played down his expectations for the Monte Carlo Masters this week, after previously confessing to struggling on clay courts.
Sinner is competing in his first tournament since winning the Miami Open, with the Italian winning 23 of his 24 matches this year.
Despite his impressive form, the world No.2 does not appear optimistic about the Monte Carlo Masters this week. “The expectations are not that high for this for this beginning of clay. The goal is to be ready for Roland Garros and then hopefully Olympics. This is…I guess for all the players the goal, to try to be in top form there.
We will take this this week as a practice week, playing with matches hopefully, hopefully more than one match but you know, it’s going to be interesting to see. I’m just happy to be here. It’s a special tournament and hopefully I can perform in in a good way.”
Although Sinner has played down his chances in Monte Carlo this week, the 22-year-old reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time last year.
I said struggling because it’s not the surface where I feel that comfortable in general,” explained Sinner. “I feel more comfortable on hard courts, which doesn’t mean that I that I’m not a good player on clay. I played my first Grand Slam quarterfinals on clay, at Roland-Garros, I made quarters in Rome.
“So let’s see. Talking about last year, it was not my best season on clay. Hopefully I can change it this year. But you know, I’m confident that I can be a good player also on clay. It takes time for sure.”
He added, “I used to practice a lot on clay when I was 14 to 20. But then after most of the tournaments, they were hard court tournaments. So you play a little bit less but you know, I’m very excited to be here. I think if you make the clay with a good friendship, it can help.”
Sinner will begin his Monte Carlo Masters campaign against either Sebastian Korda or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, after receiving a bye as the second seed.
