“I tried to fight with what I had today” – Sinner laments missed chances and the illness that held him back vs Medvedev

Jannik Sinner liked the way he was playing at Wimbledon, ahead of his quarter-final with Daniil Medvedev. But when he woke up on the day of his Centre Court clash with the Russian, he didn’t like the way he was feeling. Sinner’s illness contributed to his 6-7(7) 6-4 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3 at the hands of the No 5 seed, but after his defeat he didn’t want to take credit from his rival.

“He has been No. 1 in the world,” Sinner said. “He won a lot of titles. He knows how to handle the situation on the court. He likes the long rallies. So this you know in advance. He’s a smart player with some very good weapons. Today he deserved because he played better than me in certain moments. That’s it.”

And there goes Sinner’s nine-match grass-court winning streak, as he suffers his first match while holding the ATP’s No 1 ranking. His five-match winning streak against Medvedev is up in smoke as well.

With some more energy he might have been able to get past Medvedev in five sets, like he did in this year’s Australian Open final, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“Already this morning I didn’t feel great. Had some problems. Then with the fatigue, it was tough,” Sinner said, who spoke of the moment he went off court after the third game of the third set in his post-match press conference. “The physio told me better to take some time because he watched me, and I didn’t seem in shape to play. I was struggling physically. It was not easy moment. I tried to fight with what I had today.”

Sinner said he felt dizzy, and was really struggling in that moment. And still, somehow, when he returned to action, he was able to recover the break and nearly take the third set.

“I was dizzy quite a lot,” he said. “Actually off court I had a little bit the toughest time maybe. When I went back, I tried my best. Obviously disappointed about the third set. Had couple of set points. Couldn’t use them. Fourth set I raised my level a little bit. In the fifth I had just one poor service game, which decided the match.”

He never thought of retiring the match

It was a tough situation for Sinner, but he said he never thought of pulling out.

“I retired a lot two years ago,” he said. “I don’t want to retire if it’s only a little bit of illness or sick or whatever. I was still in shape to play somehow. The fifth sets I felt a little bit better again. The energy level was a bit up. Today the energy level was not consistent. It was up and down. Like this, it’s also not easy to handle the situations on the court. It happens. I was never thinking about retiring.”

Confidence still high

Despite the loss Sinner says he still feels he is in a good way, and feeling confident about his tennis. The world No 1 is 42-4 on the season with four titles, and he believes more good tennis is coming in 2024.

“It’s tough because I felt like that I was, yeah, feeling the ball in a very positive way. Also today I tried. Just the ending was not what I wanted. It still give me confidence for the next tournaments coming up. Then we see how it goes. I mean, it’s a tough one to swallow.

“But the season is going very positive, a lot of wins, not so many losses. The losses, they are very tight matches. The level is there. That’s the most important. Just watching out of the positives.”

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