PARIS (AP) — As pleased as Jannik Sinner was to make his debut at No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Monday, he already was looking ahead to what comes next.
So no big party to mark the significance of the occasion?
“Look, not really,” Sinner said with a chuckle in a video interview with The Associated Press from his home base of Monte Carlo. “I am in the middle of the season. There are very important tournaments coming up — there is Wimbledon. It’s a great achievement, which I am going to celebrate with my loved ones, for sure, at some point. Obviously very happy; it’s a dream come true. But in other ways, now new challenges are coming up.”
The 22-year-old Sinner, who replaced the injured Novak Djokovic atop the ATP, is the first player from Italy to reach No. 1 since computerized rankings began in 1973. Sinner will be the top-seeded man at the All England Club, where play begins July 1.
He figures his new status, along with his first Grand Slam trophy — from the Australian Open in January — mean opponents view him differently.
“They don’t have nothing to lose anymore against me, and I have everything to lose, but this is the exciting part. And I like that. … You have to work on having new solutions on the court, and this is going to be hopefully my next step,” Sinner said. “Trying to prepare myself in a way of being more unpredictable on court. This is what I want to learn in the next months.”“In the beginning of the year, we said, ‘We are going hunting, and then we’ll see what we can catch.’ And this now is still the same,” Sinner said. “Every tournament is a great opportunity to show something new and to show, also, the (will) to win as much as we can. But you don’t forget, also, the process. If you want to become a better tennis player, sometimes you have to miss. Sometimes you have to lose.”
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