Jannik Sinner says early Halle exit gives him more time to prepare for Wimbledon
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner failed to retain his Halle Open title after losing to Alexander Bublik.
PHOTO: REUTERS
HALLE – World No. 1 Jannik Sinner is looking forward to a bit of unexpected downtime after his second-round loss at Halle, to better prepare for Wimbledon.
The Italian defending champion went down 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
“I have to accept what happened. I’m now going to have a few days’ rest before Wimbledon, which are going to do me good,” said Sinner.
He now has more than a week until the start of Wimbledon on June 30, as he seeks to dethrone Carlos Alcaraz, his conqueror in a five-set epic French Open final at Roland Garros recently.
Halle in 2024 is the only grass-court title Sinner has to his name. He made it to the semi-finals in Wimbledon two years ago. Last year he was beaten in the quarter-finals.
“Honestly a little break is going to do me good,” the 23-year-old told Sky Italia.
“I came here (to Halle), I gave it my all after the Roland Garros defeat, it wasn’t easy.
“Despite everything I’m happy enough. I’ve played two matches before Wimbledon, if there’d been more it would have been even better.”
But he stressed that, for Wimbledon, “everything will be fine” as he aimed to use the time to prepare both mentally and physically for the Grand Slam event.
Sinner’s loss to 2023 Halle winner Bublik was his first against a player outside the top 20 since 2023. “He’s an unbelievable player. I was not thinking I could beat him,” Bublik said.
His last loss to a player ranked outside the top 20 was against Dusan Lajovic, then No. 66 in the world, at Cincinnati in August 2023.
On June 20, home favourite Alexander Zverev reached the semi-finals after a 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) win over Italian Flavio Cobolli.
The German, who had to rush from the court for an impromptu toilet break early in the match, said: “I felt fine before the match, and then out of nowhere I felt really, really bad and felt ill.
“I went to throw up, and then 15 minutes later I felt okay again. So I don’t know what it was.”
Over in London, second seed Jack Draper reached the Queen’s Club semi-finals with a hard-fought 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Brandon Nakashima. The Briton will next face Czech Jiri Lehecka.
On the women’s tour, Coco Gauff lost 6-3, 6-3 to Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu in the last 16 in Berlin, just 12 days after winning her second Grand Slam title at the French Open.
Wang advanced to the last four after her quarter-final opponent Paula Badosa retired on June 20 after losing the first set 6-1. AFP, REUTERS
