Simone Vagnozzi Opens Up on the Pressure Jannik Sinner Faces on the Court Following the US Open Final Loss

Jannik Sinner has reached six tour-level finals this season, but has only won two of them.

Simone Vagnozzi Opens Up on the Pressure Jannik Sinner Faces on the Court Following the US Open Final Loss

Simone Vagnozzi (inset), Jannik Sinner (Image via FITP, X/The Tennis Letter)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Simone Vagnozzi has revealed the pressure Jannik Sinner goes through in tournaments just days after he failed to win the US Open. The 24-year-old’s 65-week reign at the top of the ATP rankings ended after he lost the New York Grand Slam title to his rival Carlos Alcaraz at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Sinner has dominated the men’s circuit for the past two seasons, but has failed to get the better of Alcaraz most of the times. Since 2024, he has beaten the Spaniard just once in their eight meetings on tour and holds an underwhelming 5-10 in their head-to-head record on tour. Two of those losses have come in a Grand Slam final.

The first was at the French Open in June, where he led the first two sets and was ready to claim his maiden clay-court major title, but Alcaraz produced a remarkable comeback to win the match in five hours and 29 minutes. The second meeting was at the US Open on Sunday (September 7).

Sinner managed to win just one set in the match, leaving Alcaraz to control and dominate the game. In the end, he fell to the 22-year-old 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6 after two hours and 42 minutes. The loss saw Sinner drop to World No.2 after he failed to defend the US Open and the Cincinnati Open earlier.

Sinner has often revealed that he loves playing under pressure and he doesn’t see anything in it. But Simone Vagnozzi, one of his coaches, revealed to Rai News that the Italian plays against the expectations of his entire country each time he steps on the court:

Jannik is not only playing against the opponent on the other side of the net. He is playing against the expectations of an entire country. Everyone sees the defeat, but no one sees the nights when he cried, the days when he was too tired to even lift his arm.

Sinner has had a topsy-turvy season having been suspended for three months for twice testing positive for clostebol. He has been to six finals on tour this season, winning just two of them (at the Australian Open and Wimbledon). Four of the losses came against Alcaraz, which includes the Italian Open and Cincinnati Open. The Italian No.1 will hope to defend the Shanghai Masters and ATP Finals in October and November.

Boris Becker says Carlos Alcaraz exposed Jannik Sinner’s weaknesses during the US Open final

Jannik Sinner was expected to make Carlos Alcaraz sweat before winning the US Open after the latter started aggressively during their US Open final clash. But the Italian star failed to do so as he allowed Alcaraz dictate the game as he was broken five times in the match, the highest in a match for him at the US Open since 2023.

Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz
Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz (Image via X/Jannik Sinner HQ)

During a conversation on the Becker-Petkovic podcast, tennis legend Boris Becker revealed that Alcaraz showed Sinner’s weakness on the court at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. He added that the former World No.1 struggled to meet up with Alcaraz’s level throughout the match:

From the first minute to the last, Alcaraz was clearly better than all the other players and even better than Sinner. In the final, he was clearly the boss. He played tennis from another planet and deserved to win the tournament. The big difference I noticed in this duel was on serve; Sinner was clearly weaker, and that’s unforgiving, if he has a real weakness, it’s this one.

Sinner has now taken a mini-break from tour following the end of the North American hard-court swing. The Italian is expected to be back on the court at the China Open, where he will kick off his Asian swing campaign. He finished as a runner-up at the tournament last year after losing to Alcaraz; he will hope to do better this year.

Also Read: Andy Roddick Highlights the Secret Behind Aryna Sabalenka’s Recent US Open Win