Italian prodigy Jannik Sinner was knocked out of the Mutua Madrid Open after losing 6-7, 2-6 loss at the hands of Alexei Popyrin in the second round. After the defeat, the Italian revealed that he was suffering from pollen energy but refused to use that as a reason for the defeat.
The youngster struggled throughout the game and failed to put away some easy chances that came his way. While speaking to the media he explained that the pollen grains in Madrid have had an allergic reaction in his body which meant that he was not in his best condition at the court.
“I felt bad on court. I am allergic to pollen,” Jannik Sinner began.
However, before the backlash from the netizens and fans, Sinner was quick to reassess and then he refused to put all the blame on the allergy for his defeat. He admitted that he choked at crucial points when he had the potential chances of taking major advantage in the game.
The 19-year-old claimed it to be a difficult loss to take but also admitted that he will be taking lessons from it.
“But I did not lose because of it,” Sinner said. “It’s difficult to accept this loss, when you lose a game this way, it’s a situation that is not easy to accept. I could have won the first set almost three times. I had chances and I didn’t take them. In the second set, I tried to get him moving a bit more. But I will learn from it.”
Sinner won only 54% of his service points which gave a huge advantage to the Australian Alexei Popyrin. Intriguingly, the Italian was quick to point out that his serves were not up to the mark and hence he lost. Often that realisation takes time but Sinner knew where it all went wrong.
The young prodigy promises to work even harder ahead of the Italian Open where he announced his arrival last year by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“Overall, I did not serve well,” Sinner said. “I felt very bad on the court. He played better than me. It was one of those games where defeat is very hard to take, but I’m sure it will make me grow. I’m going to work hard to be ready in Rome,” he signed off.
