Jannik Sinner continued his late-season surge to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals on Friday. He defeated Aleksandar Vukic 6:2, 6:3 after 81 minutes to reach the semi-finals at the Sofia Open for a third year in a row. Here is what he said during the post-match press conference
Jannik – 11 wins in a row Sofia. Will we count to number 13 together?
It is still long way to go, for sure. I think I can be happy about my match today. I played well. Then I had my down a little bit, but I think I was good to recover from 4:3 and finished it 6:3. I will try to be ready for the next match and then we will see how it goes.
This year a new rivalry was born – between you and Carlos Alcaraz. He said that the new Big three in tennis will be him, you and Alexander Zverev. Do you agree with this and does this brings any extra preassure on you?
For me it is impossible to compare Rafa, Nole and Roger. They made incredible things, not only on the tennis court, but also off the court. They inspired so so many people. Honestly, the only think I think about is to improve every day. Today I had my downs and we will discuss why and what I could done better because we want to raise our level. That is my main goal. I think me and Carlos played already some times. We played good matches, high level matches. Against Sasha I played not so many, but it is always a pleasure to play these guys. But talking about the future Big Three – I don’t want to say nothing. Because first of all we don’t know who is going to be that…Yes, lets see in the future. That is the only solution we have. And then we will see. I feel privileged that Carlos takes me in consideration, for sure. As I say – we are good friends. And off-court and on-court we are trying to do our best. But anyway, he won much more than me at the moment. So, he is in a different position.
As we talk for the Big three – Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, your idol – Federer played his farewell match and what do you think for Laver Cup, would you like to play in such a competition?
First of all – Laver cup is a very very nice event. Only the best players can enter there. This year it was tough for me to play, because there was Davis cup, then – Laver Cup, so we decided to practice on the week of Laver Cup because we needed to built the body a little bit stronger for the last part of the season. Talking about Roger – as I said before – these players, especially him, inspires so many people all around the world. I saw the last match but I don’t think that it matters the match. It was emotional for all the tennis fans. And not only. I got also a little bit emotional because of what he has done. I don’t know him so well, when I went into the Tour, he was injured. I didn’t see him around the tour. But it is a tough loss for tennis.
There are five Italians in the draw this year. Is it you the reason?
Honestly, no. They are all different kind of persons, different kind of players. Everyone is incredible players. Together we had a lot of Challenger events in Italy, a lot of Futures, so people there can practice and try to get into the ATP Tour. Talking about here – we have multiple players, which is nice for our country. It is nice to see also Lorenzo being in the semi-final. Hopefully we both can play some good tennis. Not only this week, but also the rest of the season. Obviously, it is very nice for our country.
Who you prefer to face on the semi-final and do you regret that you will not play Grigor Dimitrov?
I saw the match of Grigor. It is tough to play in the home country, obviously there is a lot of preassure. I don’t know who is going to be my next opponent. Against Ivashka – we played at the US Open. It was a tough match. Against Rune I have never played. It would be the first time for me. For sure it is going to be a tough match whoever is going to win.
