ATP Tour

Sinner on key to his rise: ‘I had to accept to learn from myself’

One of the main factors behind Jannik Sinner’s stunning 2024 season so far? Learning from past mistakes.

The Italian moved to 33-2 for the year on Tuesday afternoon by dispatching Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets at Roland Garros. Reaching his maiden semi-final at the clay-court major is yet another milestone in the Italian’s rise, but Sinner says his current strength was only built by first acknowledging his weaknesses.

“I think I've learned a lot from the losses I had, especially one year ago here,” said Sinner, who was upset by Daniel Altmaier in Paris in 2023, in his post-match press conference. “I learned, and I had to accept to learn from myself, of my body language. I worked a lot on that.

“Then I had also the US Open. I had a little switch after the Sascha [Zverev] loss. There are some moments where you have to realise what you have done wrong and sometimes it's tough to accept, but this is the right way. I have very honest people around me, and they tell me only the truth. When it's good, it's good; when it's bad, it's bad. It's part of the process.”

Whatever changes Sinner has made, they have helped propel him to the top of tennis’ mountain for the first time. While the 22-year-old was on court facing Dimitrov, it was announced that Novak Djokovic withdrew from his quarter-final against Casper Ruud due to a knee injury. That confirmed that Sinner will on Monday leapfrog Djokovic to become No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

“It means a lot to me for sure,” reflected Sinner. “It's not the way we all were expecting actually. He (Djokovic) had two very long matches, tough matches, five sets, so it's tough. The first one he finished really late also. It's tough also for the tournament. Novak [withdrawing], it's always tough.

“Talking about myself, I am very happy about this achievement. It's a lot of work we put in daily. It's a daily routine. Obviously happy to have this number. In two days, there is a very important match for me, the semi-finals, so I'm focused about that at the moment. But yes, of course, I’m very happy to have this number now.”

🥇 THIS IS JANNIK'S MOMENT 🥇

Sinner becomes the first-ever Italian man to achieve ATP No.1 Presented by PIF 🇮🇹 👏#S1NNER | #PIF | #ATPRankings | #partner pic.twitter.com/pvAfiACbPO

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 4, 2024

Sinner is now 11-1 for the year on clay, on which he has not always enjoyed his best results. His only tour-level trophy on the surface came in 2022 at an ATP 250 in Umag, but feels he has now come to terms with the realities of competing on clay as he prepares for a last-four clash with Carlos Alcaraz or Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“It's a very physical surface, and you play more tennis,” said Sinner, when asked what he had found most challenging about forging good results on clay. “Sometimes on hard courts you hit fast for couple of balls and then it's over, or if you serve good, it's over. On this surface, there are some more key moments that you have to understand.

“Every player struggles a little bit more on certain surfaces. Let's see this year how I will play on grass because on grass I've had only one good season, which was last year. Before I was struggling more and more.

“Let's see what is coming. I think it's good to realise that you struggle a little bit. You have to understand yourself.”