Sinner: “People Come to See Great Tennis Battles, but It’s Not Always Like That”

We had been hearing for hours about the dangers of Alexander Bublik, his unbreakable serve, his unpredictable character, hundreds of factors that we couldn’t find once the ball was in play. A pity for the match, especially for the show and all those people who paid their ticket with the thought of going to the US Open 2025 tonight to see Jannik Sinner suffer a little. The only one who suffered was the tournament director, watching as the star match of the day slipped away in an hour and a half. Then we had the opportunity to hear from the protagonists, with the Italian being the one to analyze the match and define what might have happened to his opponent today. These were his statements.

Bublik, very poor level

“I can only control the things on my side, try to do my best every day, but there are always days when things don’t work out. Many players have off-court problems, you never know. At the end of the day, what we try to do is make the sport as interesting as possible, today I felt that I played great tennis, managed to break his serve very early, which then gave me the confidence to serve better and play much more solidly from the baseline. It was a quick match, but yes, obviously people come here to see great tennis matches, great battles, but it’s not always like that. For my part, I think it was a good performance.”

Defending the Kazakh

“We must not forget that he had a tough five-set match, which ended very late against Tommy (Paul), who is a different player from the others. These things can happen, that’s sports. Some days are good and others not so good, maybe today was one of those days when things don’t work for you, so you lose easily. You never know what can happen, sports are very unpredictable. For my part, I tried to move him, test him in that aspect, push him more on the physical side. Today I played good tennis at times, although I also gave away some free points. I just tried to be as consistent as possible, I would say that was the key tonight.”

Against Musetti in the quarterfinals

“The pressure is there, it has always been there. It will be a very interesting match to watch, it’s always different when two compatriots play, an Italian against another Italian, those are always different duels. He is an incredible player, very talented, playing at a high level. He has fought in some moments of the season, but now he is in good form, in an incredible state, so the pressure is on me. At the same time, most of the time I have that pressure on me, so we’ll see what happens. I like these challenges, it’s great from the Italian perspective, there will definitely be an Italian in the semifinals of a Grand Slam. Now these things seem normal, but they’re not. It’s very difficult to reach these stages, but the opportunity is huge, they are becoming more constant, everything is changing. I’m looking forward to the match, it’s a great challenge.”

His relationship with Alcaraz

“We have a good friendship off the court, that’s great to see. You don’t have to have enemies off the court, we are rivals when we meet on the court, that’s where we try to play tennis as best as possible, but it ends there. After the handshake, everything is fine again. It’s great to see something like that. We both have great teams around us, a normal life outside of tennis, for example, we love playing golf. We have our passions, we train hard, the team supports us, people are honest with us. Many players are like that, tennis is very important to us, but it also depends on how much you can sacrifice for it. One thing is being a good tennis player, and another is being a good person, they are two different things. I think we both have a bit of both, so it’s good.”

Playing at night in the Arthur Ashe

“It’s always special to play at Arthur Ashe, although the night matches are somewhat different because there’s a bit more attention, it’s a different atmosphere around the court, a bit noisier, it even changes the way you play. This was the first time for me this year, but it was nice. Obviously, playing at night has its good and bad sides, so you feel very special, feel privileged to step on this court at night, the biggest on the circuit. Today, in these conditions, I think it was a bit hotter, normally at night it’s colder, it’s usually a different feeling.”

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Sinner: “La gente viene a ver grandes batallas de tenis, pero no siempre es así”