Sinner, now Djokovic, has blossomed on the grass of Wimbledon

A new Jannik Sinner has blossomed on the grass of the Wimbledon Central.

The first time of the twenty-year-old tennis player from San Candido in the quarter-finals of the Championships is a double emotion: on the one hand the surprise for the unexpected affinity with grass, on the other the confirmation of an irresistible rise towards the roof of the world .

"I have only superlatives and appreciation for Sinner's game. Everyone now knows his talent, he is already a top player", the appreciation of his next opponent, the # 1 of seeding Novak Djokovic, who at the All England Club has triumphed six times, undefeated since 2017. "Obviously it will be an extremely difficult game because Nole plays very well on this surface", Sinner's response,

who in the heat after Alcaraz's victory admitted that he didn't even expect to get this far ("I didn't play so well on the grass, but after the first victory I adapted, game after game") and now looks to the examination against 'king' Nole.

"I'll try to do my best, it's the least I can do, trying to enjoy every single moment".

Already in Melbourne this year, and before that at Roland Garros in 2020, the South Tyrolean enfant prodige had hoisted himself among the magnificent eight of a Grand Slam event.

But at Wimbledon before this year he had never won a single match.

Also for this reason on the eve, even if he showed up in London as n.10 of the seeding, he had set the passage of the first round as the goal of the tournament.

Failure to participate in tournaments on

grass preceding the London Slam had certainly not helped him.

But then, during the first week, match after match, Sinner was able to gradually (and quickly) adapt to the lawns of Church Road, increasingly slow and yet so different from other surfaces.

The turning point, in the third round.

The match against the American John Isner, a grenadier returning from 90 aces in the first two matches.

Beyond the objective technical difficulties, Sinner knew that the mental aspect would be decisive for the victory, that is to resist, while remaining in the match, those long moments in which the American's serve would not allow him to play.

An exam brilliantly passed by the blue who dismissed the opponent, already semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2018, in three sets, without missing a single turn of service.

The same solidity demonstrated in the debut on the Center Court, on the Sunday of the centenary celebrations.

Even against the other predestined of world tennis, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner impressed not only for the

effectiveness of the response or for the defenses at the baseline, but above all for the mental strength.

Especially when in the third set he suffered the return of Alcaraz, giving up the fraction after missing two match-points.

A quality that captured Djokovic's admiration: "He has matured a lot on the big stages, he doesn't feel too much pressure as sometimes happens to young people. He has great confidence, he knows he can win against anyone. He is still young and yet he is already great. Experience. The way he plays, I see myself a bit as a young man: the flat backhand, always behind the baseline trying to put pressure on the opponent. It will be a great challenge for both of us. "

For Jannik also the opportunity to take revenge of the only previous one, in Monte Carlo in 2021, won by the Serbian 6-4 6-2.