Andy Roddick Warns Jannik Sinner About ‘This’ at French Open After ‘Warm and Fuzzy’ Atmosphere in Rome
Jannik Sinner ended his French Open campaign last year after a five-set defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals.
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Jannik Sinner, Andy Roddick (Image via X/Tennis Channel)
Jannik Sinner is playing his second tournament of the season. He, as the entire tennis world knows, was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for three months because of his doping scandal, missing several ATP 500 events and four Masters 1000 ones.
Before the Italian Open, Sinner defended his Australian Open crown against Alexander Zverev. He will not be skipping a Grand Slam tournament as the ban that was handed to him after the Australian Open, ended on May 4 and the second Major of the season starts on May 25.
Sinner tested positive for clostebol last year and received his punishment almost a year later. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), after initially demanding a lengthy ban, reached a settlement agreement in January.
When Sinner landed in Rome, the home favorite received a warm welcome. But how the atmosphere will be when he plays in the French Open, the tournament that never stops making headlines about disruptive behavior from the crowd? According to former World No.1 Andy Roddick, Sinner will be booed by the French Open crowd because of his doping scandal.
Whatever the warm and fuzzies are in Rome, you got sideways with the French crowd and they will just boo you! To boo someone at a sporting event they have to do something pretty gross, here you catch the ball from the ball kid the wrong way and they will [whistle].
Andy Roddick said on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast
Sinner produced his best performance at Roland Garros last year. He reached the semifinals and played a thrilling match against Carlos Alcaraz, who went past him and later defeated Zverev to become a French Open champion for the first time.
Jannik Sinner is projected to meet Carlos Alcaraz in the Roland Garros final
Jannik Sinner, despite the doping ban, did not lose his No.1 ranking. Neither Carlos Alcaraz nor Alexander Zverev were successful in inching closer to Sinner’s ranking point and his return has made it more difficult for the World No.2 Zverev and World No.3 Alcaraz to dethrone from the top.
The rankings of Zverev and Alcaraz will change on Monday. Alcaraz will be the World No.2 player and will start the Roland Garros as the second seed, meaning, he will meet Sinner if both of them reach the final and not in the semifinals like last year.
Zverev, the defending champion in Rome, won’t be able to take home back-to-back trophies as he was defeated by Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals. Alcaraz, on the other hand, took his revenge on Jack Draper to move into the semifinals in the Italian Masters 1000 for the first time.
If he beats Musetti and Sinner progresses to the final, they will meet on the tour for the 11th time. The four-time Grand Slam champion holds a 6-4 lead in the head-to-head matchups against Sinner. The three-time Grand Slam champion has never lifted the home Masters 1000. Before this season, he produced his best when he reached the quarterfinals in 2022, losing the match to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In 2023, Francisco Cerundolo was the reason behind Sinner’s exit in Rome (lost in the fourth round). Sinner then skipped the last European clay-court Masters 1000 due to an injury. Sinner took his revenge on Cerundolo by beating him in the fourth round of the ongoing tournament. He improved his head-to-head record against the Argentine ace to 3-2.
The 23-year-old is also chasing his first title on the red dirt since winning the 2022 Umag Open. His quarterfinal opponent is Casper Ruud against whom, he holds a 3-0 lead in the head-to-head meetings.
But the match in Rome will be their first encounter on clay, the surface where the Norwegian lifted 12 out of his 13 singles titles. Ruud entered the Italian Masters 1000 event after defeating Draper in the Madrid Open final.
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