Favourite Sinner wary of Renaissance man Dimitrov in Miami final

Jannik Sinner goes into the final of the Miami Open as the red-hot favourite to take what would be his third title of the year, cementing his place as the best player in the world right now.

Already top of the ATP Race (the calendar-year rankings) thanks to his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, Sinner picked up his 12th title when he won Rotterdam and after making the semis in Indian Wells, is 21-1 on the season.

But in Grigor Dimitrov – aka, the Renaissance man – Sinner knows that as well as he’s been playing, the Bulgarian represents a genuine threat to his supremacy on a quick surface that offers reward to those who take risks.

SINNER ON DIMITROV: “HE’S VERY, VERY TALENTED PHYSICALLY”

Sinner was watching when Dimitrov blitzed Carlos Alcaraz off the court in the quarter-finals in Miami and the Italian will have had an eye on the semis, when Dimitrov showed plenty of steel to get past Alexander Zverev in the semis. Nothing, as far as Sinner goes, will be taken for granted.

“We saw an amazing Grigor yesterday night (against Alcaraz),” Sinner said after his own masterlcass of a semi-final, a 6-1, 6-2 routing of world No 4 Daniil Medvedev. “He played incredible tennis.

“He’s very, very talented physically. You know, really, really good shape. He has the talent to change things of up on a tennis court because of the way he plays. He can stand back, he can go close. He has very, very good hand skills. He can do whatever he wants.”

“It’s going to be a great test for me, a great final, and hopefully I can show some good tennis.”

Dimitrov back in world’s top 10

Dimitrov is enjoying a great year so far, his title in Brisbane his first since 2018, while he’s also guaranteed to return to the world’s top 10 for the first time since that same year.

At 32, the Bulgarian has lost none of his flair or his shot-making skills. What he’s most proud of, in the past 12 months, is how he’s become more consistent against the world’s best players.

“What’s better…(is that) I have been able to put those matches back-to-back,” he said. “I think the consistency of beating top players, that to me is way bigger success than anything else.

“If you do that, you get the ranking. If you do that, things are just getting better for you. But in order to do, it’s where it all comes through. The discipline, the hard work, you know, all the dedication, the adjustment to very different players throughout that time, I mean, you need to be able to do that on a constant basis.

“That’s been happening for the past eight, nine, 12 months. It’s been difficult. I had very, very difficult match that I have lost and that I’m in a way still pissed about. But I kept on believing, kept on doing the work.

“I think the discipline brought me I think to that moment. There is nothing else. I didn’t kind of deviate from my target, not even my goal. I had small targets throughout — every single week I had a target, and also to be able to put my body through all that on a daily basis was also very important for me. Every single day when I wake up and I don’t have a big pain that would stop me to practice 100% was already a success for me.

“So when you start putting all that together, I think it’s where I’m most, in a way, most proud with. Of course competing against top players and beating them sort of back to back, it’s definitely what I’m the most happy with.”

Sinner 2-1 up in head-to-head

Sinner leads their head-to-head record 2-1, having won the past two, last year in Miami and in Beijing. As a now three-time Miami finalist, he clearly revels in the conditions.

But part of Sinner’s success is his humility and the Italian knows that whatever happens in the final on Sunday will not detract from what’s already been an incredible start to the year.

“The first time I came here I made final, like, I couldn’t sleep the night,” he said. “The second time, which was last year, I was relaxed because I went through periods of where I made already, you know, experiences.

“Now I’m a different player, different person. I will handle it hopefully a little bit better again. If I win, good. If not, it’s again a great result.”

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