Sinner retires from Roland Garros with a knee problem

Jannik starts all-out against the Russian but in the middle of the second set he begins to suffer, until, under 2-0 in the third, he leaves the field

What a shame. Once again Jannik Sinner is stopped by an injury. From how he started, the match against Andrey Rublev seemed like a formality. Jannik had dominated the first set closed 6-1 in half an hour, but in the middle of the second the left knee, which had already put the game with McDonald at risk, started to ache. A pain that slowly prevented Jannik before expressing his game, then running, and finally moving: at the start of the third South Tyrolean he threw in the towel. Now we have to ask ourselves the problem of fixing this physique that has betrayed him too many times since the beginning of the season. Ok the covid at the beginning of the year, ok the change of staff with all the inevitable difficulties in preparation, but now the physical problems are starting to be too many. And they hurt even more because they arrive in a Grand Slam, with an extremely favorable scoreboard that would have easily allowed the South Tyrolean, healthy and on the ball like the one in the first set, to reach the semifinal if not beyond.

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“I do not give up”

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Sinner showed up, very dejected of course, at the customary press conference: “I knew I was not at the top. This pain, this knee problem came unexpectedly and I was hoping it would be resolved quickly. Now I will have to do some physical tests to see how it is doing. knee. Too bad because I played a good first set. In my opinion I’m playing well, I changed the movement on the second serve, but unfortunately this season is not going as I wanted. This year I have not yet managed to win a tournament, not even to make the final. The level of my tennis is there, my head as well, I miss to solve these physical problems. I have always lost against players who have a better ranking than mine, but losing in the round of 16 or in the quarterfinals is useless . I could have gone far in this tournament, it’s a shame. Now I have to work on my physique. It is certainly not for this injury that I stop. “

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What happened

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Jannik immediately left very strong, precise in his serve and lethal in response. He constantly hammers Rublev’s backhand right from the start and already in the second game he snatches the serve. The pace does not drop, the South Tyrolean, who in the sixth game wins a second break and in half an hour closes the first set 6-1 after having also canceled two balls of the counterbreak. Rublev takes a racket, perhaps to try to wake up: very frustrated screams at his box. In the second set he starts off in balance. Rublev keeps the line but complains of not feeling shoulder and legs (not very well), Jannik responds by holding the service in an impeccable way except for a forehand volley that is appreciable for the idea but “revisable” in the execution. Each proceeds with his own serve until, on 3-2 Rublev, Jannik makes a face, limps and calls the medical time out. He scared.

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Massage and painkiller for him who then returns to the serve and from 40-0 he gets back 40-40. He keeps the line but plays on eggs, he is afraid of getting hurt and even in the eighth game he goes into difficulty. The situation does not improve, on the contrary, Sinner is suffering more and more and in the tenth game he gives up the joke and therefore the set. In the interval Rublev goes to the locker room, Jannik remains in his corner with the disconsolate face of someone who knows he doesn’t have many chances after a rocket start. And in fact when he starts again, Rublev is at the bar and holds zero, Jannik immediately goes under, loses his service and mutters something with his corner of him. Then he withdraws. Now we need to think about healing and building a solid physique.

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