Boris Becker will be part of Sky Sports Italy’s team of commentators starting from the quarterfinals of the men’s singles next week.
interviewed by Federica Cocchi from the Gazzetta dello Sport, he said he was enthusiastic about a specific match of this first week:
“The match between Sinner and Berrettini was ‘a real’ match of excellent tennis. I was pleased to see that Matteo is once more competitive at last, but I didn’t have big worries about Jannik: he is confident like few others on the tour right now.”He said.
“There is the eternal debate about the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ draws to me, as a player and then as a coach, it has always seemed a sterile discussion, it is the player who makes the draw a good draw. Personally, I always preferred to start with tougher opponents, because it prepared me mentally for the second week. I think Sinner’s victory with Berrettini has projected him fully into the tournament.”
Becker, who won the Wimbledon title three times during the 1980s, goes on to explain the challenges of playing on grass are for players.
“Tennis on grass is a different sport from the tennis which is played on other surfaces,” explains the German, “the movements are much more complicated, I remember that the first few days I used to struggle to organise my footwork. The body has a different, lower position, the points are very fast and you have to be physically prepared and mentally reactive. If you drop your service on clay you still have the chance to regroup, if it happens to you on grass you have much fewer opportunities. Psychologically it is certainly the toughest surface to manage, you have to have a lot of confidence in your game and Sinner has it right now.”
“I think Sinner is on the right track. He has been playing for months now at a very high level, and his greatest quality is consistency. If we consider the last period he has not yet played a “bad match”, let’s touch wood. On the one hand you can’t always win, but on the other he has always kept a very high level, more than any other player since the beginning of the year. This means that to beat him you have to do even better and that’s why this year he’s only lost a couple of matches.”
Two of Sinner’s three defeats came at Indian Wells and Roland Garros to his friend, and seemingly lifelong rival, Carlos Alcaraz.
“We all have weaknesses, even Alcaraz! No, seriously, on the court he’s close to perfection, but sometimes he is a bit fluctuating in form while Sinner is more continuously consistent. When you see a match of Jannik today, you know exactly what to expect, with Carlos you don’t. Right now the Italian is mentally rock solid and this is evident on the court.”
