Jannik Sinner hits incredible speed with a huge forehand winner at ATP Finals

Kevin Palmer
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Jannik Sinner at the ATP Finals
Jannik Sinner at the ATP Finals

Jannik Sinner sent out a big message to his rivals at the ATP Finals in Turin as he hammered Alex de Minaur in a straight sets win, with one of his booming forehands drawing gasps from his adoring home fans.

Sinner recovered from losing his serve in the third game to ease to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in 85 minutes in his first match since winning the Shanghai Masters on October 13.

He did play three matches at the Six Kings Sma exhibition event in Saudi Arabia and collected over $7milllion from winning that event with a victory against Carlos Alcaraz in the final, but this was his first official tour match in almost a month after he withdrew from the Paris Masters due to illness.

The world No 1 reached the final of the ATP Finals last year, but he is back in Turin with a very different aura around him after a year that has seen him win his first two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and US Open.

After pulling out of the Paris Masters due to a virus, Sinner looked healthy as he beat De Minaur and while there were some dips in his performance levels, this was was perfect start to his campaign to win the ATP Finals for the first time.

“Considering how long since my last match, I’m very happy,” said Sinner.

“I started off with some unforced errors, he was playing great in the beginning of the match so I just tried to stay there mentally knowing that, hopefully, at some point my tennis would arrive.

“It arrived quite early and I started to return very well, my serve for sure I have to improve but I’m very pleased about the win and hopefully this can give me the confidence for the next one.”

Sinner went on to suggest he needs to improve on a key area of his game if he wants to succeed in his next ATP Finals match against big-hitting Taylor Fritz.

“My serve, for sure I have to improve if I want to win the next match,” he added.

“Against Taylor for example, today he played really well. Let’s see, but today I’m very pleased about the win and hopefully, this can give me confidence for the next one.”

De Minaur conceded he had been overpowered by Sinner, who hit one explosive forehand at over 100mph, as the Italian crowd saluted the moment with a roar of delight.

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“I knew I had my work cut out,” said De Minaur, who has now lost all eight of his matches against Sinner.

“I thought I started well, then I kind of slipped away. I just couldn’t sustain the level that I needed today to beat Jannik.

“His ball speed, in my eyes, is so much higher than basically the rest of the people. From both sides he’s solid. He keeps on improving. He’s improved his serve so much throughout the years.

“I always rate my chances [of progressing out of the group]. I think the way I see it is that Jannik was the only player in the group who I hadn’t had a win against. The rest of the players I’ve had some success against. Now I’m not playing the No. 1 in the world anymore, I’ll be looking forward to that.”

Sinner’s eagerness to improve on this opening performance in Turin will be ominous for those looking to silence the Italian crowd and beat the local hero before the final ball of the ATP Tour season is struck in next Sunday’s final.

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