Wimbledon hero Oliver Tarvet finds a cutting word to describe’s Andre Agassi damning Jannik Sinner jibes
Jannik Sinner came under fire from tennis legend Andre Agassi after he crashed out of the French Open after suffering in the Paris heat, but British star Oliver Tarvet has claimed that criticism was misplaced.
Sinner’s hopes of completing the career Grand Slam of all four majors came to a shuddering halt when he slipped to defeat at Roland Garros when he was on the brink of victory.
The world No 1 appeared to be cruising to victory against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round, but baking temperatures in Paris struck down the world No 1 and he went from the brink of victory to losing the final two sets 6-1, 6-1 in an alarming collapse.
That inspired Agassi to tell TNT Sports that Sinner needs to look at his preparation and his physical approach if he wants to avoid a repeat of his Paris meltdown.
“Sinner going out was huge,” said Agassi. “I mean, I had a body clock of about four hours when I played. And if you gave me hot conditions, it dropped to about 3:45 or 3:50. I didn’t change a lot. If you gave me great conditions, maybe I could stretch it to 4:10 to 4:15.
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“But to go from him playing five-and-a-half hours last year in the finals and then having the heat tap him out in an hour and 45, there’s a difference between being fit and being prepared.
“I have to point at a flaw in that kind of preparation because there’s something you can do about that.
“It’s not that that dude doesn’t work hard. It’s not that he’s not fit. He was one game away and the whole draw opened up. We all thought we’d see him not even lose a set.
“I know he can play for five-and-a-half hours—he’s proven it—I know he’s the best player on the planet right now.
“But I also know there’s no excuse for him to run into a wall at one hour, 45 [minutes].”
Now Tarvet, who played Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon last year and has qualified for the main draw at the grass court Grand Slam once again has rejected those claims and described Agsssi’s comments as ‘criminal’.
“To call him unfit, I feel like it’s criminal,” Tarvet told Tennis365 at an ASICS event in London.
“It’s just the fact that he’s playing so many matches, the fact that he’s winning so much just has a massive emotional and physical toll on you. It’s just not easy, you know, doing it in nice conditions, but it’s even more difficult doing it when it’s when it’s hot and the sun’s beaming down and you’re playing best of five sets.
“Maybe some guys might try and make it as physical as possible against him, hoping that you might be able to tire him out, but I feel like tennis wise he is better than everyone else, to be honest. His bull striking ability is incredible. The challenge is getting to four and five sets with him because he is normally cleaning up in three.”
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Tarvet went on to salute Sinner’s power hitting, as he suggested the Italian is setting new standards of excellence along with Carlos Alcaraz.
“Sinner is playing some incredibly good tennis right now,” added Tarvet.
“I feel Sinner and Alcaraz are doing, them being so dominant is, is not easier. It feels almost normal for them to literally showing up to every tournament in winning, but that is not an easy feat.
“If they win, it’s like okay you did what you are supposed to do. Then when they lose, it’s like the world went upside down.
“For me, the tennis player, knowing what it takes and the emotional toll that it takes to to play your best week and week out is really difficult, so what they are doing is incredibly impressive.”
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