Despite his almost spotless record at the French Open Rafael Nadal says he is wary of his upcoming meeting against one of the sports most promising youngsters.
The world No.2 will lock horns with Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals on Tuesday in what will be the first Tour meeting between the two. 19-year-old Sinner disposed of Alexander Zverev in four sets to become the first man to reach the quarter-final of the tournament on his debut since 2005. The year when Nadal did so on his way to the title.
Coached by Riccardo Piatti and Andrea Volpini, Sinner has already scored three wins over top 10 players in his career despite being the youngest player inside the top 100 on the ATP Tour. Besides Zverev, he has also gotten the better of David Goffin (on a hard court) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (on clay) this season. Last November he won his maiden Tour title at the Next Gen finals in Milan.
“He’s young and he’s improving every single week, it will be a big challenge (for me),” Nadal said of Sinner.
“It will be the first time playing against him on the tour. I practiced with him a couple of times and he has an amazing potential. He moves his hand very quick and he’s able to produce amazing shots. I need to play my best.”
Sinner faces a tall order if he wants to claim what would be the biggest win of his career by far. Nadal has a win-loss record of 97-2 at the French Open with his only losses being to Robin Soderling and Novak Djokovic. Nevertheless, the world No.75 believes there will be positives from the upcoming clash regardless of what the result may be.
“The most important thing is to go on court with the right attitude,” Sinner explained.
“I’ll try to play my own game because if he gets you to run it’s very difficult to win. It is important to have the right balance and not to start with the handbrake on.’
“In a match like this I can learn things that will be useful in future.”
Due to previously training together, neither player is entering the showdown blind of what their opponent’s ability may be. Although there is one thing the Italian isn’t looking forward to.
“Training and matches are two very different things,” he said.
“He (Nadal) makes you play a lot of balls. He reads the match very well and understands what his opponent is doing. I don’t like when my opponent makes me run, and he’s certainly going to do it.”
Sinner is the youngest man to reach the last eight of Roland Garros since Djokovic back in 2006.
