Italian star Jannik Sinner has admitted he is not worried about the start of the season after suffering a surprise defeat to Czech Jakub Menczyk in the Qatari capital Doha.
The world number two seed was looking to follow in the footsteps of Spanish rival Carlos Alcaraz and reach the semi-finals of the Qatar Open, but lost to Menchik 7-6, 7-3, 2-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
While the 20-year-old Czech player was regarded as one of the most promising talents and had a great game, Sinner made unexpected mistakes, especially on his forehand shot, and was dealt a further blow by losing to veteran Serbian star Novak Djokovic before the final of the Australian Open, the first of this season’s four major “Grand Slam” tournaments.
The loss to Menchik was Sinner’s first on hard court against a player ranked outside of the world’s top 10 since October 2023, but he hasn’t missed the finals in two consecutive tournaments since mid-2024.
“It was difficult to break Menchik’s serve in the third set. I also made some mistakes. It’s normal for them to happen, but at the same time I was a little disappointed in the way these moments were handled,” Sinner said, according to the German agency.
Sinner hopes to close the gap in weight class with Alcaraz, who could surpass 3,000 points by the end of this week, and prepare for next month’s tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
Italian star Yannick Siner has admitted he is not worried about the start of the season after suffering a surprise defeat to Czech player Jakub Mencic in the Qatari capital Doha.
World No. 2 Sinner was aiming to follow in the footsteps of his Spanish rival Carlos Alcaraz and reach the Qatar Open semi-finals, but lost to Mensik 7-6, ‘7-3’, 2-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The 20-year-old young Czech had a great game as one of the most promising talents, but Sinner suffered an additional blow after losing to veteran Serbian star Novak Djokovic before the final of the Australian Open, the first of this season’s four major “Grand Slam” tournaments, when he made unexpected mistakes, especially on his forehand shot.
The loss to Mensik was Sinner’s first time competing on a hard court against a player ranked outside the top 10 since October 2023, but Sinner had not missed the finals in two consecutive tournaments since mid-2024.
According to the German agency, Sinner explained, “It was difficult to break Mensik’s serve in the third set. I made some mistakes, which is natural, but at the same time I was a little disappointed in the way I responded at that time.”
Sinner hopes to close the gap in the rankings with Alcaraz, who could surpass 3,000 points by the end of this week, and prepare for next month’s tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
