What players in the locker room will now be thinking about Jannik Sinner after his US Open match vs Denis Shapovalov

Jannik Sinner may have beaten Denis Shapovalov in four sets, but it was no easy task for the Italian.

After all, he started the match by falling into a one-set deficit, and despite winning the second, the 24-year-old then found himself 3-0 down in the third.

It was admittedly an inspired performance from his opponent, who impressed throughout the early stages. However, his implosion midway through that pivotal third set proved costly, and allowed Jannik Sinner to stroll to a four-set triumph.

David Law, speaking on The Tennis Podcast, has suggested that such a battling display from Shapovalov, and a stuttering one from the world number one, might have sent a message of encouragement to the rest of the players still in the US Open draw.

Jannik Sinner shows signs of weakness vs Denis Shapovalov

Speaking about Sinner’s press conference, he admitted: “I think he was quite irritated, and I started it because I asked the first question and I said we’re not used to seeing you in this sort of position, Jannik. What issues were you facing, and what sort of challenges was he posing? And he looked at me in that kind of quizzical What the hell are you talking about?

“And I think other players would feel very familiar with that, even though they’re not as good as Jannik Sinner, I think it’s the look that players tend to give to journalists when journalists are assuming something’s going to happen, and actually players think, ‘Well, you don’t know how hard is to make it look like it does.’ And I think he was thinking, you know what?

This is really tough. What I’m doing is amazing, and it isn’t just an automatic development. I have to work really hard for this, and it is normal was his words, to describe the challenge that Shapovalov presented him with.”

Law then indicated what such an interesting performance from both players means for other competitors, continuing: “And I think it is a useful reminder for us all, and yet, at the same time, it’s not normal for him. I mean, I know he has lost to Shapovalov before, but it still came as a big surprise, you know, given the way they’re lined up, and it just adds an extra level of intrigue to the tournament, really.

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“The fact that this is a little reminder that, yes, Sinner is not a machine, he is an incredible performer and a reliable competitor, but I think it will have been noticed in the locker room by a few players who will think, well, okay!”

Jannik Sinner’s serve suffers vs Denis Shapovalov

The foundation of Sinner’s game, and most players on tour, is the serve. When it falters, everything can quite easily come crashing down.

Fortunately for the Italian, he has so many other weapons at his disposal that a misfire does not completely rule him out of a match.

It certainly makes things tougher, though.

Throughout his clash with Shapovalov, he could only manage to get 59% of his first serves in. When he did, he won 85%.

It’s rather telling that his second serve percentage therefore sat at just 49%, meaning that he was allowing his Canadian opponent plenty of looks to attack his second serve.

Fortunately, he managed to mitigate this issue, but against players like Carlos Alcaraz, he will get punished.

This is especially interesting given Tommy Paul said he found Alcaraz tougher to face than Sinner earlier in this tournament.

Fortunately for Sinner, it has happened early in the US Open, and not against a top-level rival who could properly punish him.

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