Jannik Sinner described reaching the final of the Internazionali d’Italia as “incredible” following a hard-fought victory over Tommy Paul and is now fully focused on his much-anticipated showdown with Carlos Alcaraz.
The Italian found himself in early trouble during the semi-final but recovered impressively to turn the match around in front of a passionate home crowd in Rome. “As I’ve said before, every match is different, every day is different. I found myself trailing after just 30 minutes, but that’s the beauty of sport,” Sinner said after the match. “I stayed in it, I know I can play better tennis. As always, the crowd was amazing and gave me huge support tonight.”
Despite acknowledging it was not his best performance, Sinner highlighted that the result was what mattered most. “I turned around a match where I didn’t feel great on court, but today the only important thing was winning,” he said. “Obviously in the final I’ll need to raise my level. I came here hoping to play two or three matches, and now I find myself in the final – that’s incredible.”
Sinner admitted that reaching the final gives him a confidence boost ahead of Roland Garros. “Regardless of the result, this gives me a lot of belief going into the French Open. Rome is a very special place to play. I’ll give everything I’ve got and then we’ll see. It will be another different match. If I want to be competitive, I’ll need to step it up. It also depends on the conditions – we’ll see how it goes.”
Looking ahead to the final against Alcaraz, Sinner reflected on their growing rivalry. “We’ll see on Sunday who’s stronger between me and Carlos,” he said. “It’s good to face him before two Grand Slams. We’re two different players, but when we play against each other, the level rises. We push ourselves to do things we don’t normally do. But this match is different for me. I’m in a situation I’ve never experienced before. I just want to see where I stand.”
