Jannik Sinner on US Open R3 struggle: ‘I’m not a machine!’

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Sinner on overcoming Shapovalov hurdle: 'I'm not a machine!'

World No. 1 overcame a tough start to seal four-set win at the US Open

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Jannik Sinner defeats Denis Shapovalov on Saturday to reach the fourth round at the US Open. By ATP Staff

From a nerve-wracking slugfest to a commanding victory, in barely the blink of an eye.

That was the story for Jannik Sinner on Saturday afternoon at the US Open, where the No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings pulled through a ‘match of two halves’ against Denis Shapovalov.

Sinner, who had dropped just 11 games across his first two rounds in New York, appeared certain to fall two sets to one down when serving at 0-3, 30/40 in the third set of his third-round match. Yet he reeled off nine consecutive games from that point en route to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win, a scoreline that perhaps did not accurately reflect the tense nature of the contest.

“[He was] serving very well, pushing a lot,” said Sinner in his post-match press conference, when asked why he thought Shapovalov had been able to pose him problems where others had failed. “And also, I'm not a machine. I also struggle sometimes.

“Today I felt like from my side I didn't struggle. I was playing great tennis, and he also. And then the match is there. As I always say, when I go into matches, I just want to feel well prepared. If I feel like that, for me, it's a good feeling stepping on court, because I feel safe about my weapons, but in the other way, a match is always different than the practice hit.”

If the ease with which Sinner dispatched Vit Kopriva and Alexei Popyrin in his opening two matches only increased fans’ belief that he will lift his fifth Grand Slam trophy on 7 September in New York, the third-round battle with Shapovalov served as a stark reminder of the difficulties he will have to overcome.

“You cannot always go [through] with the scoreline easy,” said Sinner. “Every match is so difficult. Every challenge is so difficult. Then there are players that have more qualities or potential, and he's one of them. When he serves very well and he has very clean groundstrokes, physically very strong, he has everything to hurt players. So I knew that. I also knew that before the match.

“I was in a very difficult moment today. The scoreline was a bit against me today, but I just tried to stay there mentally. Obviously very happy to manage to win today, because it was a very important win.”

Sinner is bidding to become the first player to defend the men’s singles title at the US Open since Roger Federer in 2008. Yet when asked about that goal, he was eager to stay focused on his fourth-round clash with Tommy Paul or Alexander Bublik.

“I'm not thinking about [defending the title], because you go day by day," said Sinner, who is now 34-4 for 2025 according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. "Every day you have one opponent. You just try to play your best tennis possible.

“It's a very long way to say that you can defend a title. Now I can say that I'm in the second week, which is already a great result, and then we see what comes next.”

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