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Mumbai: Ahead of his first sighting in competitive tennis after the Australian Open, Jannik Sinner had entered to play the Hamburg Open, an ATP 500 tournament in the week leading into the French Open. It was a back-up deviation should it take the world No.1 some time to get started again at the ATP 1000 in Rome. Three days ago, he pulled out of Hamburg.
Sinner has played enough in Rome. And, won enough to get his feel back after returning from a three-month forced hiatus to a doping suspension.
At times, it looked like that feel from a player who hadn’t lost a match since September last year never went away. Like when he bagelled world No.7 Casper Ruud winning a staggering 25 of 32 points in the first set of the quarter-final and wrapped him up 6-0, 6-1. All Ruud could do was smile and sum it up as “kind of next level s**t”.
At other times, it looked like that level was going through dips of inconsistency from a player who has made dazzling consistency his forte over the last season. Like when he turned up cold against Tommy Paul in the 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 semi-final, or in the final against Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday where Sinner was locked in the battle through the tight first set before loosening his grip.
Those little inconsistencies could be due to lack of enough match time, as the Italian highlighted after the final. Yet, overall through the week in Rome in terms of his level and mindset after three months of inactivity, Sinner was more close to the Sinner of old than away from it. With the season’s second Grand Slam starting on Sunday on the Parisian red dirt, it puts the Australian Open champion back as among the top contenders for the French Open.
“I am closer than expected (after the return), in a way of everything,” Sinner said. “Very happy about this tournament. It gives me hopefully the confidence to play some good tennis also in Paris.”
Comebacks for elite athletes after a considerable time off can often carry an air of unknown. More so in Sinner’s case, where he was on a three-month pause despite being healthy. The body can recharge, but the mind can wander in overtime.
Five-time Slam winner Iga Swiatek, away on doping suspension for one month late last year, has returned to the tour looking a shadow of the player she was and admitted to feeling anxiety around the entire episode. Sinner too has spoken about having considered taking a break from tennis while his lightened ban became a topic of debate.
Some athletes, however, can seemingly flick a switch upon return, no matter the physical or mental toil they’ve been through in the sidelines. Out injured for three months, Jasprit Bumrah took little time at putting batters at the mercy of his class again in the Indian Premier League. On a forced break for three months, Sinner took little time in finding his reaction time, court movement and range of strokes again.
The 23-year-old built it up gradually through the first three matches against relatively easier opponents in Rome, and hit — to quote Ruud again — “next level s**t” in his first big comeback test.
It helped that the Italian, whose ban came into effect in February, could begin training in April. In its early days, Sinner told Italian broadcaster RAI that he had sessions where he felt good and some where he felt “a drop”. His competitive resumption sort of mirrored that.
“Some matches (I played) incredibly well, some matches could be better,” Sinner said. “There are some things, like we saw today (in the final), what we have to improve if we want to do good in Paris.”
That is likely to happen with more game time. Rome was a better-than-expected restart. Paris, despite his comparatively underwhelming French Open record, could await a more polished Sinner. Alcaraz, the defending champion and his biggest rival, knows that.
“The level he played here is insane, after three months without any tournaments,” the Spaniard said of Sinner. “If he’s winning in Roland Garros and going farther, he’s going to feel even better. He’s going to be a really dangerous player in Paris.”
