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Jannik Sinner’s Italian Open semi-final against Daniil Medvedev was suspended due to rain, with the world number one up a break in the third set when play was halted.
Before the rain came, it had been an enthralling encounter, laden with drama.
But Medvedev wasn’t ready to roll over. He took full advantage of Sinner’s physical struggles and began turning the momentum around.
“Boy, that might have done him the world of good,” he said. Courier went on to explain: “Jannik Sinner looked like he was hurting physically out there. Medvedev is the wrong guy to play when you’re not feeling your best because he can just extract pain.”
Tracy Austin weighed in, saying about Medvedev: “He’ll rope-a-dope you. And Sinner looked so amazing in that opening set. He was in total control, great depth on his shots, really dictating, and something happened to him physically midway through that second set when shots started landing mid-court, Medvedev was getting in the points, and then Jannik was in trouble.”
Medvedev had raised complaints to the umpire during the match about Sinner receiving what he felt was unfair treatment for a physical issue.
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Chris Eubanks weighs in on Jannik Sinner’s struggles against Daniil Medvedev
Sinner, battling cramps and looking unwell throughout, even appeared to be sick courtside. But despite dropping the second set, he was a break up in the third before play was suspended.
Looking ahead to the restart, Chris Eubanks broke down how momentum shifted:
“Second set, things slowly started to change. Medvedev got up an early break, started to play more aggressive, and then we started to see him utilise the drop shot a lot, and then you started to see Jannik’s rhythm get really disrupted.”
“Yeah, I mean, you kind of know that Daniil’s going to find a way to play 4D chess. I thought he did a great job.
“Yes, you know, there is the situation with Jannik. Is it fatigue? Is it sickness? We’re not entirely sure, obviously, we’re here on the ground, but still not entirely sure what it was with Jannik that he was struggling with..
“We weren’t sure, were we, when we saw this? He’s doubled up over there. I wasn’t sure that he was actually sick at that stage.”
Eubanks responded: “Yeah, we had no idea, honestly, on the changeovers it felt like maybe he was dealing with some type of illness. He was having trouble catching his breath. We even saw him grimace a little bit at one of the change of ends.
“But then, classic Jannik, he gets onto the court, he’s running side to side. I mean, we saw him for the first time I’ve ever seen kind of sacrifice the point, play a drop shot and just kind of realise the point was going on a little bit too long. He needed to conserve his energy.
“He was able to kind of balance it in the third, got up the break, and then started to have a little bit of push pull, started to really force the aggression on some points. Started to kind of let some go and manage the body.
“So something that we’ve seen from Sinner in different conditions, typically not cool in night conditions, he struggled in the past in heat and humidity. So it’s going to be interesting to see how he’s able to respond after a full night’s rest and he comes back at such a pivotal moment in the match.”
Sinner still managed an early break in what became set three as fans await their conclusion this afternoon after Saturday night’s weather postponement. The winner will face Alexander Zverev after his hard-fought win over Nicolas Jarry.
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