Jannik Sinner’s post-Miami Masters win press conference started with a hilarious moment as the moderator mistakenly understood that the Italian also ensured reaching the world No. 1 spot by winning the second Masters tournament of the year.
On Sunday, Sinner hammered Grigor Dimitrov 6-3 6-1 in the Miami final to lift his third title of the year in four tournaments played. For Sinner, it was also his first Miami title after ending as runner-up at the tournament in 2021 and 2023.
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By winning Miami, Sinner also made it past Carlos Alcaraz on the ATP rankings as he is now the second-ranked player in the world. Currently, the 22-year-old Italian has a small edge over Alcaraz as he has 8,710 ranking points while the Spaniard now sits in third place with 8,645 points.
Overall, Sunday and the entire 10 days in Miami were outstanding for Sinner.
After the Miami final concluded, Sinner’s press conference started with the moderator asking the Italian: “What is more important for you, your first title in Miami after two finals or being No. 1 in the rankings tomorrow?”
It prompted this response from Sinner: “No, No. 1?”
The moderator then realized their mistake and corrected itself: “No. 2, sorry. (Laughter.)
Sinner then delivered a hilarious comment to the moderator: “Unforced error. (Laughter.)”
Sinner then gets serious and addresses his new career-high ranking of No. 2
Since late 2023, Sinner’s game and his ranking have been on the rise. On October 2nd, Sinner broke into the top-5 for the first time in his career when he reached the world No. 4 spot. Following his Australian Open and Rotterdam wins, the Italian continued his ranking surge and made it past Daniil Medvedev at the world No. 3 spot in late February.
Now following his Miami win and a semifinal showing at the Indian Wells Masters, Sinner also left Alcaraz behind him.
The next is Djokovic, who has 9,725 ranking points – which is 1,015 more than Sinner at the moment.
After a funny moment between Sinner and the moderator, the 22-year-old Italian got serious and addressed reaching the world No. 2 spot.
“No, for sure it means a lot to me, but more importantly, it was a great performance for me, especially in that semifinal and final, which for me it’s more important,” Sinner said.
“Being No. 2, it’s an amazing feeling. I never thought to come to this point. I come from a very normal family. My dad is still working, as my mom, too. For me, it’s, you know, sport is one thing, and life is different.
“I’m very happy to be in this position. I’m just enjoying every moment. These are special days winning a tournament. Doesn’t matter what kind of tournament, it’s a special day. It means a lot to me.”
Sinner ‘did not expect’ this kind of astonishing success
In the second part of 2023, Sinner won the Toronto Masters, Beijing, Vienna, and also led Italy to the Davis Cup title. Also, Sinner was very close to winning the ATP Finals but lost in the Turin final to Djokovic.
Going into the 2024 season, Sinner was widely mentioned as someone who could do some big things this year. But no one really didn’t expect that after the first three months of the season, Sinner would win three of his four tournaments played and own a 24-1 record.
“I was not expecting this, for sure. I would lie. But I felt prepared to do well this year, because I had a great offseason, I had a great end of last year. You know, beating Novak twice for me was, you know, important, like an important result,” Sinner said.
“You know, I had like really consistent weeks, you know, Beijing and Vienna, and end-of-year Finals and Davis Cup. For me I felt ready to make some great results.”
Now, Sinner turns his focus on the clay season, for which he will start practicing on Thursday and kick off next week at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Heading into his Monte Carlo campaign, the Italian acknowledged that he won’t get to practice too much before his opening clay tournament of the year. Sinner, who made his first Monte Carlo semifinal last year, also noted that “some strange results” happen in the Principality almost every year.
“There are always some strange results usually in Monaco, so let’s see what’s coming this year. For sure, the main goal is Roland Garros, yes, but trying to work slowly into this tournament and trying to play it in the best possible way,” Sinner said.
It remains to be seen if Sinner can make a deep Monte Carlo run and continue his streak in 2024 of at least making the semifinal.