Jannik Sinnerwill face teen sensation Rafael Jodar at the ATP Madrid quarterfinal on Wednesday. Sinner, the World No.1, is bidding for a clay sweep in the absence of Carlos Alcaraz, who was ruled out of the ATP Rome Masters and the following Roland Garros due to a wrist injury. In the previous two years, only Alcaraz has been able to stop Jannik Sinner's juggernaut, and without the seven-time Grand Slam champion, Sinner is expected to dominate all major tournaments, including the French Open.
Apart from the defeat to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open earlier this year, Sinner hasn't been challenged. On clay, given his physical limitations, even Novak might not prove strong enough to challenge Sinner. Alexander Zverev has a good record on clay, but given that he has lost eight straight games to Sinner, not many are backing him against Sinner.
The only names that are doing rounds who could prove challenging for Sinner are Joao Fonseca andRafael Jodar.Fonseca recently met Sinner at the Indian Wells and gave him a real fight, pushing the game to tiebreakers in both sets. Meanwhile, Jodar has been making waves this year with a stunning performance. He got a wild card entry to the Madrid Open and now faces Sinner for a place in the semifinal. What's intriguing is that not many are giving Sinner a free pass against Jodar.
Coming from Spain, Clay is where he is most comfortable, and it has reflected in his results, where he won matches against Dusan Lajovic, Tomas Machac, and Alexandre Muller en route to the title in Marrakech. He followed the title win with a stellar run in Barcelona, where he beat Jaume Munar, Ugo Carabelli and veteran Cameron Norrie before losing to Arthur Fils in a closely fought battle. The biggest win of his career came against World No.8 Alex de Minaur in Madrid before he defeated Fonseca.
Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner was all praise for Jodar and said that he will be a great player in the future. “Jodar is a very, very clean hitter [with] very easy power. You can hear the sound when he touches it, and it's a good sound coming from the racquet. He's very, very talented. He's going to be a great, great player in the future, and he's already showing it. I like his mentality; it's quite calm. I don't know him personally, but he seems very humble. He's a very, very good player, and I wish him only the best.”
Faham Uddin is a seasoned sports journalist currently working as a Special Correspondent on the sports desk. With over eight years of diverse experien...View More
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