MELBOURNE. The “Sinner” abstinence is over and, for the many fans of Sesto’s number 1 (but not only, because anyone who loves tennis cannot help but love the South Tyrolean champion), It’s time to see Jannik back in action tonight (between Sunday and Monday) at 4 (Italian time: in Melbourne it will be 2pm), will take the field for the first round of the 2025 Australian Open.
The Italian will face the Chilean Nicolas Jarry“bomber” from over 2 meters high that currently he is world number 36 but, as of May 2024, had reached the number 16 position of the ranking. In short, an opponent to definitely be taken with a grain of salt even if, to date, on the “fast” side the problems are above all for the others because Sinner, if on the day (and it is very often, not to say always) it is practically “unplayable”.
With the South American the budget is in perfect balance (1-1: however, the defeat dates back to 2019, at the Rosmalen Open, a 250 tournament: in 2024 Jarry achieved a real exploit at the Internationals of Romereaching the final where he was defeated by Zverevbut on hard court it’s certainly a different story.
The declared goal of the South Tyrolean champion is to do an encoreafter the amazing success achieved 12 months ago, when he broke the ice in the field Grand Slam defeating the Russian in the final Medvedevafter a match with two faces, first dramatic (down by two sets) and then triumphant (victory in the fifth with an exponential growth).
In September he won a New York and then, still talking about Slam, the joke is written: there is no two without three. Will it arrive right away? There is no shortage of competition, but if Sinner “does” the Sinner on concrete for others – that Alcaraz and Zverev (at this moment the most dangerous opponent), to Djokovic and Medvedevthere is none for anyone.
The “road map” towards the final is marked and the draw was, all things considered, favourable: if Sinner overcomes Jarry, he will face the winner of the match between the Japanese in the second round Taro Daniel (number 84 in the world) and the Australian Tristan Schoolkate (number 173), while you have 16th possible intersection with Davis’ partner Flavio Cobolli (number 32)who however will have to overcome the obstacle Etchverry on his debut and dealing with a thigh problem that forced him to retire Auckland.
In the round of 16 the projection leads to the challenge with Holgar Rune (issue 13) but in the second “block” there is no shortage of insidious opponents for the Dane, given the presence of Norrie, Berrettini (who will face each other on their debut), Hurkacz (number 18) e Greek track. In the quarter-finals the big threat could be represented by the “master” of the house of Minaur (number 8 in the world), always defeated by the champion from Sesto in all previous matches, with the Greek Tsitsipas (number 11) and Russian Khachanov (number 19) as the most accredited alternatives.
And in the semi-final? The most likely opponents are certainly Taylor Fritz (number 4) and Daniil Medvedev (number 5)but the part of the board where the American and the Russian are inserted is very full of pitfalls, given the presence of Shelton (number 21), Perricard (number 30, but very dangerous on the “fast”), Rublev (number 8), Tiafoe (number 17) and blue Musetti (number 16).
The entire Australian Open, obviously including tonight’s Sinner match, it is broadcast live, in pay per view mode, on Eurosport (channels 210 and 211 of the Sky remote control) e in streaming su Now.
