Sinner shows great respect for Giron: incredible what happened in Shanghai

The Italian, at the end of the match, made a very important gesture to the American


by LORENZO CIOTTI

Sinner shows great respect for Giron: incredible what happened in Shanghai
Sinner shows great respect for Giron: incredible what happened in Shanghai © Hu Chengwei / Stringer Gettty Images Sport

Jannik Sinner started the adventure at the ATP Master 1000 in Shanghai very well, although he had very little time to recharge his batteries after the ATP 500 in Beijing. The Italian tennis player learned the lesson of Cincinnati and this time he was able to overcome his debut against the American Marcos Giron.

The Italian won with the final score of 7-6, 6-2. He always managed to win the important points in the tie-break, including the three set point chances granted to the American. In one of the three opportunities the talented 22 year old was quite lucky to win the rally thanks to a favorable deflection of the tape.

This episode, which rather decided the match and gave the blue the chance to win the first set and control the match well enough in the second, remained in the Italian athlete's mind even after the match when he approached the net to tighten the hand to the opponent.

"I'm sorry about the first set," said Sinner to Giron, who smiled and appreciated the Italian's gesture of respect.

9-7 was the result of a very tight tie-break, which the new world number 4 closed thanks to a splendid return.

The same happened at the end of the match: with a winner after his rival's serve, Sinner achieved victory and access to the third round.

Jannik Sinner analyzes the debut in Shanghai

Jannik Sinner analyzed the victory with Giron in the press conference, explaining: "Coming here for the first time, all the players say that this is an incredible event, and I was looking forward to coming here too, so I'm very happy to finally have the chance to play here.

They treat us players amazingly here, so it's really nice to be here. Speaking of Turin, it was our main objective of the season.

It's a great feeling to be able to say I can play in Turin this year. But the season isn't over yet.

I want to finish well. It's a good chance to play well here for the first time. Today was definitely a difficult match, but I already knew that before the match. I haven't had much time to adapt to these fields. That's why it means a lot to me that I managed to win the first round match here.

After winning in Toronto, then losing in the first round in Cincinnati, I tried to avoid that here.

The conditions are a little more similar to those in Beijing and here, but I still had to fight very hard. I was a bit lucky when he took it 6-5 in the tiebreak, but then I think in the second set I raised my level a bit and was able to play a bit better.

I mean, Carlos and Daniil are two completely different players, first of all, so you have to adapt your way of playing a little bit.

However, for me it's good to play against them because I can understand where I need to improve.

I feel like they both make me a better player in every way. So it's always nice to share the court with them.

I know my weaknesses and my team knows them too, so every time we go on the pitch we try to improve, which for us is the most important thing, especially regarding the physical aspect, we have to work a lot.

For us, the off-season for next year is certainly very important too. We will work very hard and see how it goes in the future."