Jannik Sinner has insisted he is in good health amid recent speculation about a potential hip issue.
The world No.1 was seen frequently massaging his hip region during his quarter-final match against Andrey Rublev at the Canadian Open last week, which he lost in three sets. The tournament was the first he had played since recovering from tonsillitis which forced him to withdraw from the Olympics.
Despite his recent setbacks, Sinner has little doubt over his current fitness as he linked his hip issue to a lack of match play in recent days. He has already won four tournaments this season, including his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. His other triumphs occurred in Rotterdam, Miami and Halle.
“I feel quite good. Obviously I made nearly one week without practising before and then after playing for two, three days in a row, a bit more than usual, [that] could [have had] a potential impact to the hip,” atptour.com quoted Sinner as telling reporters on Monday. “But I’m not afraid. I feel good with the hip, and I’m just looking forward to go back on court here.”
Earlier this week, Carlos Alcaraz stated that his goal for the rest of the season is to try and secure the year-end No.1 spot. Sinner currently leads the standings ahead of the Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz. The Italian admits that his only option of staying at the top is to improve his game further.
“If you just want to hold the position, you have to improve. And if you want to get better, you have to improve more than the others,” he said. “I think it’s a good balance of how much work you do and how much quality you can put in the work.”
Sinner has a chance to add to his points tally this week at the Cincinnati Masters after losing his opening match at the tournament 12 months ago. Since the start of January, he has won 24 out of 26 matches played in a hard court. His only losses were to Rublev last week and to Alcaraz in Indian Wells.
“Here usually I struggle a little bit to play because of the conditions, but I’m looking forward to seeing my reaction this year, because it’s a great test for me,” Sinner said of playing in Cincinnati. “I believe that this tournament can give you a lot of confidence then for the US Open, which is the last Grand Slam we have throughout the year. So in my mind, this is a very important tournament.”
Sinner will play either Alex Michelsen or Taloon Griekspoor in his opening match.
