Sinner, favourite in Toronto and close to winning his first Masters 1000: “I feel I’m in very good mental shape”

Jannik Sinner certainly didn’t expect it, but in the space of one evening, he went from rank outsider to genuine favourite at the Toronto Masters 1000. In front of the television, he was able to see the defeat of Daniil Medvedev, who had beaten him in the Miami final earlier in the year, by Alex de Minaur, followed by that of Carlos Alcaraz, courtesy of Tommy Paul.

For Sinner’s own part, he got the win in three sets (6-4, 4-6, 6-3) against Gaël Monfils in a match he managed to win after losing the second set. The 21-year-old thus becomes the tournament’s top remaining seed (No 7). At the press conference, the Italian said didn’t want to put any extra pressure on himself after all these results in his favour as he heads into his fourth Masters 1000 quarter-final of the year.

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“As I said on court, it’s nice to be in a position again to play a very important match tomorrow [Saturday].

“I had many tournaments like this where I was in this stage of tournament, and I’m happy to be again here. And hopefully I can do better. But in another way, I was focused about today’s match.”

Psychological strength courtesy of coach Cahill

Sinner’s string of excellent Masters 1000 results is due in no small part to the work he has put in on his mental side with his coach since last year, Darren Cahill.

“It’s the most important part of the game, the mental side. I have made mistakes earlier this year a little bit. As I always say the example of Roland-Garros. I had the wrong mindset.

“But I feel like that I have learned many things from this kind of match where sometimes you have to make mistakes to understand. And I feel like now I’m in a very good mental shape and performance.

The moment @janniksin sealed his spot in another Masters 1000 semi-final 🤩#NBO23 pic.twitter.com/DM5ZjRFykM

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 12, 2023

“Obviously, I can do much, much better, but you have to do it also in practice sessions when you are tired, when you are feeling a little bit of pain. You have to go through this process which is going to happen most likely in the match, and you can work on this a lot.”

For a place in the final, the Wimbledon semi-finalist will have to overcome Paul, coming off the back of beating the world No 1: “It’s going to be a different problem again because it’s a different opponent.

“He won against the No 1 player in the world. So it’s going to be very, very tough. And I know that. In the other way, as I said, I’m happy to be in the semis again.”

The two men are tied in their head-to-head meetings (1-1), but the American won the last time they met, at Eastbourne on grass in 2022. But this time, the Italian will have no room for error. More than ever, he’s within touching distance of a first Masters 1000 title.

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