Jannik Sinner calls out issue he’s noticed at the Italian Open this week – ‘I am not a big fan’
Jannik Sinner continued his spellbinding run of form by defeating Andrey Rublev to confirm a place in the semi-finals of the Italian Open for the second consecutive year.
Sinner defeated Rublev in straight sets, but it was not as easy as the 6-2, 6-4 scoreline might suggest.
The Italian looked to struggle with fatigue in the second set, where he only hit 39% of his first serves, which will be a worry for the World No. 1.
That is not the only issue Sinner has noticed at the Italian Open this year, as he is not happy with how late play has been going on at the tournament.
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Luciano Darderi’s last 16 match with Rafael Jodar did not finish until 2am, for a multitude of reasons outside of the tournament’s control.
Rain throughout the day delayed matches, but Jodar vs Darderi was also struck by another strange imfringement.
Inter Milan and Lazio played out the Copa del Italia next door to the Italian Open, which saw Milan win 2-0 to lift the illustrious piece of silverware.
The celebrations had a knock-on effect to Jodar vs Darderi as the smoke from the celebrator fireworks caused a 19-minute delay to the tennis.
Darderi eventually took the third set with a bagel, but he did not finish until the early hours of the morning. After his press duties, the rising Italian would be unlikely to get to bed until around 5am in the morning.
Sinner does not think this is acceptable at all.
Speaking at his post-match press conference after defeating Rublev, Sinner said: “I am not a big fan of players having to start the match so late. We then go to bed really late. I have a lot of respect for the crowd that stayed, it’s incredible and what pushes us to play.”
Darderi and Sinner are now just one match away from producing an incredible all-Italian final in Rome.
Sinner needs to defeat either Daniil Medvedev or Martin Landaluce, while Casper Ruud stands in the way of Darderi.
Should the two Italians meet in the final, they will break a remarkable 69-year streak since the last time two Italian men contested the final in Rome.
That was played out in 1957 by Nicola Pietrangeli and Guiseppe Merlo and saw Pietrangeli win the first Italian Open title of his career.
Pietrangeli vs Merlo was just the second all-Italian final in Rome, following the 1955 meeting between Fausto Gardini and Merlo two years prior.
If either Sinner or Darderi win the title, they will become just the fifth Italian name to win the title in the tournament’s 96 year history.
