Tennis icon John McEnroe has given his verdict on Jannik Sinner’s dominant French Open form and highlighted one concern for the world No 1.
Sinner hammered Alexander Bublik 6-1, 7-5, 6-0 in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros to continue his quest for a maiden title at the Paris major.
The Italian star has secured all three of his Grand Slam titles to date on hard courts, having won the last two editions of the Australian Open and the 2024 US Open.
Speaking on TNT Sports after the one-sided quarter-final, McEnroe was asked if Sinner could be underdone given the matchups he has had — or whether the world No 1’s form is where he would like it to be.
“Tough one to know the answer to because he looked good in Rome, but maybe the second set [in the final] against Carlos [Alcaraz], a little fatigue set in, maybe a little discouragement,” said the former world No 1.
“If you had said to him, ‘Look, you’re gonna be in the semis, you haven’t lost a set’, he would have taken that in a heartbeat.
“But obviously whoever wins tonight (between Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic) is gonna make it a whole lot tougher, I would presume. And that would be the test: in the fourth or fifth set of a match, will that come back to haunt him that he hasn’t played?
“But in a way, it seems to me like it’s a blessing in disguise. He’s hungry, he’s fresh, the legs are there.
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“Everything that Darren Cahill (Sinner’s coach) has told me the last couple weeks is that they put in a lot of work to keep the body right, but also the mind. And he looks like he’s right where he left off in Australia for the most part, he’s hitting the ball incredible.”
The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion also shared his thoughts on the showdown between Djokovic and Zverev.
“All three of the men’s quarter-finals so far have been blowouts, this is a different story completely,” McEnroe asserted.
“You’ve got Zverev, who, he’s gotta be to me, the hungrier of the two ’cause he just hasn’t been able to get over the finish line. He’s been so close. And he’s the younger guy – 10 years.
“The key to me is, can he be aggressive enough? This defensive posture that he’s played most of his career in, it’s passing him by. These guys like Alcaraz and Sinner, they’re just gonna blow that type of play off the court — you can’t get away with that.
“[Daniil] Medvedev’s really struggling now, he’s trying to figure out what he can do. [Stefanos] Tsitsipas is… ‘What happened? I’m not even in the top 20 anymore’.
“This is a match that’s really important for him (Zverev). Obviously Novak’s trying to hit 25 [Grand Slams] and sort of distance himself from the other two greats as the all-time greatest.
“So he’s got reason to want to do this, but for me it’s about Zverev. I give Djokovic a 55-45 chance, a slight favourite going in.”
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