A message to the world. A message to tennis. A message to his fellow competitors. Jannik Sinner paid a huge tribute to Rafael J\u00f3dar Camacho following their quarter-final clash. The world number one gave the Spaniard a warm embrace before turning to the television camera and signing it in large letters, as if to avoid any confusion: WHAT A PLAYER, he wrote of the 19-year-old kid he had just beaten at Manolo Santana Stadium.<\/p>\n
These words carry some weight. They come from the world number one. They come from a player who doesn\u2019t hand out compliments lightly or get swept up in the emotion of the moment, and they come after having to dig deep to shake the Spaniard off. Sinner\u2019s actions are the latest confirmation of something that\u2019s been brewing over the past ten days in the Caja Magica. \u201cA star is born\u201d, said David Ferrer after watching J\u00f3dar compete in Madrid. On Wednesday, Jannik provided his own take on the same idea. First with a long embrace at the net, then with the message to the camera, and later, in the press conference room, with a much deeper reflection than a simple compliment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat he\u2019s doing is incredible. I wish him nothing but the best\u201d, Sinner said of J\u00f3dar. \u201cHe\u2019s got everything it takes\u201d. The Italian had already shown interest even before facing him on court. Jannik was seen watching his match against Alex de Minaur on the centre court. He admitted that he had watched the entire clash with Joao Fonseca, and explained that he likes to keep a close eye on young players because he knows they could become regular opponents in the future. This wasn\u2019t mere curiosity. It was study. It was respect.<\/p>\n
Sinner admits that J\u00f3dar made things uncomfortable for him. \u201cHe pushed me to the limit. He\u2019s an incredible player\u201d, he said, still on court. \u201cI tried to be as prepared as possible because it was the first time I\u2019d played against him. Next time, if we play again, he knows what to expect and I do as well\u201d. The man from San Candido isn\u2019t easily intimidated.<\/p>\n
Sinner acknowledges that there were moments when he needed to rely on his competitive maturity to get through. \u201cIt was a high-quality match. I had a bit of luck in the second set, but also a bit of experience\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
Amidst all the praise, however, Sinner wanted to send out a warning, a plea for calm around a player who, suddenly, has begun to hear his name uttered in the same sentence as some big names. \u201cDon\u2019t push him too much\u201d, the Italian asked of the press. \u201cSometimes it gets into your head and it\u2019s very difficult to get rid of it. He\u2019s a really good kid, he\u2019s got a great family behind him. His father seems very humble. He has a little bubble, and that\u2019s very good for him\u201d. It\u2019s hard not to be excited by this kind of talent, but the Italian\u2019s words are wise.<\/p>\n
Perhaps that was Sinner\u2019s most important message. He knows what he\u2019s talking about; he\u2019s been through it all himself: \u201cAs an athlete, you always have a lot of pressure. My advice is to try to keep that pressure as far away from the present as possible, although I know there will always be plenty of talk off the court\u201d, he explained. His message for his opponent at the net immediately after the match was along those lines: “Keep working. Keep improving”. This is just the beginning, Sinner seemed to be saying.<\/p>\n
Sinner, for his part, will now play in the Mutua Madrid Open semi-finals for the first time, after overcoming a test that left him tired but satisfied. \u201cI\u2019m incredibly happy to be in the semi-finals here for the first time. It means a lot to me\u201d, he declared.<\/p>\n
Before he turned his thoughts to the next round, however, Sinner left behind an image that\u2019s already part of the tournament. The world number one, the winner of the match, lent the spotlight to the man he had just defeated.\u00a0WHAT A PLAYER\u00a0. What a player, indeed. In capital letters, Jannik Sinner has added his own tribute to many others in Madrid for Rafael J\u00f3dar Camacho.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A message to the world. A message to tennis. A message to his fellow competitors. Jannik Sinner paid a huge tribute to Rafael J\u00f3dar Camacho following their quarter-final clash. The world number one gave the Spaniard a warm embrace before turning to the television camera and signing it in large letters, as if to avoid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":108755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[838,837],"tags":[1067,1164],"class_list":["post-108788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-tenis-masculino-en","category-noticias-tenis-en","tag-jannik-sinner-en-2","tag-rafa-jodar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108789,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108788\/revisions\/108789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}