Jannik Sinner has a level of mental toughness that not many other players his age has, according to one of his rivals on the Tour.
Alexander Bublik has paid tribute to the Italian following their meeting in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open on Wednesday which Sinner won 7-6(5), 6-4. The clash saw the world No.31 battle back from a break down in each set, as well as recovering from a 3-5 deficit in the tiebreaker. It was the second time the two have played each other this season after Dubai.
After Sinner closed the match out, Bublik started his praise instantly. Greeting each other at the net, the Kazakh commented ‘you are not a human being, you are 15 years old and you play like that.’ Prompting a smile on Sinner’s face.
“It’s very surprising that the guy at his age has this mental toughness that many, many other players don’t have,” Bublik said during his press conference.
“I called him a robot couple of times during the match, but I do it in a very sincere way because he’s really, really a great player.”
Sinner is currently the youngest player in the ATP top 100 at the age of 19. He has already won two ATP 250 titles in Sofia last year and Melbourne in January. At the 2020 French Open he became the first male player to reach the quarter-finals of his debut since Rafael Nadal back in 2005.
“He’s mentally strong, he’s physically strong. I mean, he’s a great player,” Bublik commented.
“He’s what, 19 years old, and he’s making this impact on the tour. He doesn’t really like fall. You see some youngsters, they come up and they lose some matches 2 and 2. I said to his coach Jannik is built differently.”
Following his latest victory, the 19-year-old has reached his first ever Masters 1000 semi-final in what is only his fourth appearance. To put that into perspective only seven other teenagers have reached the last four of the Miami Open in its 36-year history. Of which five of them went on to become world No.1 at some point in their careers.
Whilst he is on the right trajectory to rise to the top of men’s tennis, Sinner insists that he still has a lot to improve over the coming years. An approach he has used ever since working with Riccardo Piatti as a teenager.
“I still have to improve everything,” he stated. “Some matches you play good; some matches you maybe make some mistakes. For me, the most important thing is to stay there every point, trying your best every match and every practice session.’
“Still at 19 I can only improve. For sure, maybe next year I’m another player and one year after I’m another player once more. So I’m going to change for sure something.”
Sinner will play Roberto Bautista Agut in the semi-finals on Saturday. If he wins, he will become the first Italian in history to reach the final in Miami.
