Sinner was up by two sets but then lost to Djokovic.
Jannik Sinner, 21, admits he will have to further improve his mental game if he wants to accomplish his ultimate tennis goals. Sinner, ranked at No 15 in the world, several times fell just short of reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal this year as three times he was beaten in a Major quarterfinal.
At Wimbledon, Sinner was up by two sets against Novak Djokovic and playing great but then Djokovic stormed back to win in five sets. Two months later at the US Open, Sinner missed out on a semifinal spot after not realizing a match point versus Carlos Alcaraz.
“You have to understand what is good for you and what is not good for you. And you understand it only by playing as many matches as possible against strong players in this type of tournament. For example, what Nole did against me at Wimbledon: he was able to do something that I still don’t know how to do, which I miss.
Which is not just raising the level of tennis, but it’s a mental thing. I was too slow to understand at that time how he played, it’s that was the difference,” Sinner told Eurosport Italy.
Sinner on missing the Davis Cup Finals
In Malaga, Italy will have to do it without Sinner.
Sinner, who is dealing with a finger injury, insisted he really wanted to play but the injury ruined his plans. “The first thing I spoke to was my team, to figure out what was best for us. Then I called Filippo (Volandri) because it was right for him to know first.
Then I sent a message in the chat where we are all. What I can say is that Italy has a lot of strong players. We can compete with everyone.Unfortunately, I can’t go to Malaga. I couldn’t wait to play in the Davis Cup. This choice hurt me, but I couldn’t do otherwise because it’s a health issue.
However, Italy must believe in it, we have an excellent team and let’s hope we can beat the United States,” Sinner explained.
