Jannik Sinner gives major hint about French Open decision
Jannik Sinner has given a teasing update as tennis fans await an official announcement about his participation at the French Open.
World No 2 Sinner has spent the past fortnight on the sidelines as he is struggling with a hip injury first sustained during his third-round win over Pavel Kotov at the Madrid Open.
Although the Italian went on to defeat Karen Khachanov in the round of 16, he withdrew from his quarter-final clash against Felix Auger-Aliassime as it was confirmed that the problem was a lot more serious than initially thought.
He subsequently also pulled out of his home ATP Masters 1000 event, the Italian Open, with the move costing him the chance of overtaking Novak Djokovic at No 1 in the ATP Rankings.
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Rumours then started to swirl that he could skip the French Open as he did not want to jeopardise his long-term health as the 22-year-old admitted: “If a longer period of rest is needed, I will observe it.
“I will only go to Paris if I am one hundred per cent physically because I don’t want to shorten my career just to do one more tournament.”
Sinner has spent the week at Italian Serie A giants Juventus’ famed medical centre in Turin in an attempt to speed up his recovery, but he is yet to confirm his Roland Garros plans.
Just a day after his coach Darren Cahill posted an image of Roland Garros balls and a tennis racket, Sinner has now taken the teasing to another level as he revealed he is training again on clay in Monte Carlo – 18 days after his last competitive match – with the caption: “⏳”
The reigning Australian Open champion – who has been the form player on the ATP Tour so far in 2024 as he is 28-2 with his only defeats coming against Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final of the Indian Wells Open and the last four at the Monte Carlo Masters – has just over a week to regain full fitness as the French Open gets underway on May 26.
Sinner, who stumbled out in the second round at Roland Garros last year, is on course to replace Djokovic at world No 1 after the tournament as the 24-time Grand Slam needs to reach the final to stay at the top.
The Italian will move to No 1 in the Live Rankings as Djokovic will drop 2,000 points as the defending champion while Sinner will drop only 45 points.
