Notebook 9 – Stupor and tremors for Sinner, the astonishment of Rune, apologies for Djokovic, a steamroller called Swiatek – rts.ch

SINNER, STUPOR AND TREMORS Jannik Sinner can still defend his title, but the world No. 1 scared himself during a grueling, arduous and “hot” (33 degrees!) round of 16 in front of Holger Rune. Not in his right mood and feeling dizzy, the Italian almost had to shoot the arrow. He summoned the trainer onto the court and was seen shaking like never before at a change of ends in incredible footage, but he fought like hell not to slip up. Admirable. “I think everyone saw that I wasn’t feeling very well“, commented the Italian at a press conference, without wanting to say more, professional secrecy required. We just know that he had not warmed up before his match. “It was a strange morning, I wasn’t in my normal state“, he added.

SOLID DESPITE EVERYTHING Sinner was all the more admirable because in addition to having continued to play, he casually did it in a beautiful way. Certainly, it was not the untouchable and unplayable Jannik that we have already known, but this round of 16 was of good quality despite all the problems experienced by the title holder. Proof of this is that the Dane tried everything, he was not able to steal more than one set from his opponent (6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2), who will now have to take care to blow these next 30 hours if he intends to defend his crown again.

RUNE WAS SURPRISED Holger Rune had very little taste of Jannik Sinner’s medical time-out. “He came back playing fire, I don’t know what they did“, thundered the Dane. Oops!

MONFILS FINALLY GIVE IN The conditions were not only unbearable for Jannik Sinner. Gaël Monfils also ended up giving up in the Australian heat, forced to give up in front of Ben Shelton (7-6 6-7 7-6 1-0). This is also the problem when you approach middle age; the body no longer turns in the same way, the legs no longer respond as they did 20 years ago. “I was roasted“, admitted the Frenchman, whose behavior we greatly appreciated in this fortnight. Faced with a player 16 springs less, “La Monf” had still armed 45 winning shots and converted 16 of his 19 climbs before surrendering weapons This makes his abandonment all the more frustrating, which opened the door to the quarters for Shelton, ready to battle with Lorenzo Sonego.

SONEGO’S INSPIRATIONS We discovered Lorenzo Sonego in 2018 in Australia. On the sidelines, we saw him come out of qualifying and then dominate Robin Haase in the first round. There was something pleasant about his game. There was real potential there. Seven years later, after seasons of ups and downs, the Italian achieved the best run of his career in the Grand Slam, qualifying for the quarter-finals. Not content with having obtained the scalp of Stan Wawrinka in the first round, the 55th in the world (who will at worst be 35th next Monday) hit the heads of Joao Fonseca, Fabian Marozsan, then this morning of Learner Tien (6-3 6 -2 3-6 6-1). The American revelation could not do much in front of an inspired Turinese (22 aces, 90% of points scored behind his first ball, 58 winning shots, 79% on the fly). Own.

DJOKO GETS “HIS” APOLOGY 24 hours after refusing to take part in an on-court interview for being mocked by a Channel 9 journalist, Novak Djokovic obtained the apology he wanted. The journalist in question, Toby Jones, blurted out “having wanted to make humor, as I often do“. Before adding: “But clearly, it was not interpreted that way. So I immediately contacted Djokovic’s teams.” It is with a light heart, but with a bit in his teeth, that the Serb will be able to challenge Carlos Alcaraz tomorrow. It risks sparks!

KEYS STILL STANDING On Friday, Elena Rybakina left Melbourne Park with a broken back, doubtful about her ability to continue her journey there. Forty-eight hours later, the Kazakh gave a lot to subdue Madison Keys, but it was not enough. Her proud reaction in the 2nd set was beautiful to see, but she was beaten by an American in breathtaking form and still able to accelerate after 1 hour of play (victory 6-3 1-6 6-3 , 9th success in a row). Titled in Adelaide, Keys does not offer sparkling tennis, but, be patient, she is currently playing very fair and it is paying off. On the road to Madison now stands Elina Svitolina. Neither was expected in the semi-final. One of them will be there. Which? Make your bets already!

SVITOLINA EPATE There was a time, a little less than 10 years ago, we could have bet very big on the fact that Elina Svitolina was going to win a Grand Slam tournament. In 2025, the Ukrainian woman’s track record in this area is still blank. And should stay that way. But let’s recognize that the former WTA no.3 (in 2017) is amazing in Australia, where she has so far only lost one round. After having produced a superb performance in front of Jasmine Paolini on Saturday, she took charge today in front of Veronika Kudermetova (6-4 6-1). Here she is facing her 12th quarter-final in “majors”. She has won 3 so far. None in Australia.

SWIATEK ROLLS ON LYS Without any surprise, the sensation Eva Lys stopped in front of the ogress Iga Swiatek, ruthless and absolutely unplayable for a novice at this stage of such a tournament. 6-0 6-1, the 8th final did not make the slightest crease. The German barely lasted 1 hour before seeing the most beautiful journey of her career come to an end. Without the slightest regret, of course, as there was nothing to do against the No. 2 WTA. Even better, Lys celebrated its only set won in this match as a victory, at 6-0 3-0. The 23-year-old can leave Melbourne with stars in her eyes. Swiatek is not there yet. The Polish woman intends to go all the way. It must be recognized that its current pace promises a lot.

TRANCHANTE NAVARRO Really discovered last season, Emma Navarro (23 years old, WTA 8) continues to ride the cloud which allowed her to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the last four at the US Open in 2024. The New Yorker was very solid in front of Daria Kasatkina (6-4 5-7 7-5) to sign her 4th victory in 3 sets in a row. It seems like she likes to complicate her life before finding her salvation! The task will be very complicated in the quarterfinals against Iga Swiatek. Especially since Navarro has already spent 10h23 on the court (including 3h22 during her first round) compared to… 4h35 (in total!) for the Pole.

PHRASE OF THE DAY “There’s nothing I wanted more than to play well in Australia“, smiled Alex De Minaur after his 6-0 7-6 6-3 success against Alex Michelsen. The Australian is delighted to be playing good tennis “at home”. Next meeting: Jannik Sinner. Another lemonade.

Arnaud Cerutti