{"id":125631,"date":"2025-05-23T15:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T15:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/125631\/"},"modified":"2025-05-23T15:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T15:49:11","slug":"italian-tennis-legend-says-what-really-happened-to-jannik-sinner-after-he-lost-the-first-set-to-carlos-alcaraz-in-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/125631\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian tennis legend says what really happened to Jannik Sinner after he lost the first set to Carlos Alcaraz in Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Jannik Sinner made his highly anticipated return to tennis in Rome and immediately reminded fans of why he is the world number one.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The three-time Major champion returned from his three-month suspension at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/italian-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Italian Open<\/a>, securing several impressive wins.<\/p>\n<p>Mariano Navone, Jesper De Jong, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/francisco-cerundolo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Francisco Cerundolo<\/a> were all beaten before the Italian produced one of the best performances of his career in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n<p>Showing no signs of rust, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/news\/casper-ruud-explains-why-he-had-fun-despite-heavy-jannik-sinner-defeat-in-italian-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sinner dominated Casper Ruud<\/a>, 6-0, 6-1 on Stadio Centrale, to book his place in the semi-finals, where he beat Tommy Paul in three sets.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2214660304-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Casper Ruud of Norway and Jannik Sinner of Italy hug each other at the net after their Italian Open quarterfinal match\" class=\"wp-image-91381\" \/>Photo by Antonietta Baldassarre\/Insidefoto\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Winning a title in his first tournament back would have been the perfect end to the story, but it wasn\u2019t to be as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/news\/jannik-sinner-sends-message-to-carlos-alcaraz-on-social-media-the-day-after-losing-to-him-in-the-italian-open-final\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sinner lost to Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, 6-7, 1-6.<\/p>\n<p>Sinner\u2019s countryman and fellow Grand Slam champion has now shared his thoughts on why the 23-year-old\u2019s level dipped after the first set of the final.<\/p>\n<p>Nicola Pietrangeli says Jannik Sinner\u2019s lack of match practice cost him against Carlos Alcaraz<\/p>\n<p>Appearing as a guest on Italian radio show <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raiplay.it\/sport\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rai 3<\/a>, two-time French Open champion Nicola Pietrangeli gave his verdict on Sinner\u2019s performance in Rome.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1244964139-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Nicola Pietrangeli looks on during a press conference at the 2022 ATP Finals\" class=\"wp-image-93882\" \/>Photo by Marco Canoniero\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLosing a final against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/carlos-alcaraz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[Carlos] Alcaraz<\/a> is not that bad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the sense that training is one thing and the match is another. It\u2019s not that he lost in the first round but in the final, after playing a perfect first set in which he also had two set points.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfterwards, the absence from the match for three months obviously weighed on him, but that\u2019s normal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLosing against a player more or less his level is fine.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The 91-year-old then looked ahead to Roland Garros, and said what he would do if he \u2018knew\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/jannik-sinner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sinner<\/a> would win.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRoland Garros? If I knew he\u2019d win, I\u2019d go to the box office to bet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Jannik Sinner looks to join Nicola Pietrangeli on list of Italian champions at the French Open<\/p>\n<p>Since the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/french-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">French Open<\/a> became a Grand Slam event in 1946, just two Italian men have won the title.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"inline-links multi\">\n<li>1959 French Open \u2013 Won by Nicola Pietrangeli<\/li>\n<li>1960 French Open \u2013 Won by Nicola Pietrangeli<\/li>\n<li>1976 French Open \u2013 Won by Adriano Panatta<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>66 years ago, Pietrangeli became the first Italian player to win a Major title when he lifted the trophy in Paris.<\/p>\n<p>He did so dropping just two sets all tournament, proving his class on the Parisian clay.<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Round<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Opponent<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Score<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>F<\/td>\n<td>Ian Vermaak<\/td>\n<td>3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>SF<\/td>\n<td>Neale Fraser [2]<\/td>\n<td>7-5, 6-3, 7-5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>QF<\/td>\n<td>Billy Knight [11]<\/td>\n<td>6-1, 6-2, 6-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>4R<\/td>\n<td>Torben Ulrich<\/td>\n<td>7-5, 6-3, 6-4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>3R<\/td>\n<td>Juan Manuel Couder<\/td>\n<td>6-3, 6-2, 6-2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2R<\/td>\n<td>Mario Llamas<\/td>\n<td>6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Nicola Pietrangeli\u2019s 1959 French Open title run<\/p>\n<p>Pietrangeli defended his title in 1960, before reaching two further finals (1961 and 1964) coming up short on both occasions.<\/p>\n<p>Italy had to wait 16 years for a third title at Roland Garros, which was provided by Adriano Panatta, who became the nation\u2019s first Grand Slam winner of the Open Era in 1976.<\/p>\n<p>Panatta was unable to defend his title as Pietrangeli had before him, and so began a 49-year wait for the next Italian men\u2019s singles champion at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n<p>Many are hoping Sinner can end the drought in 2025, as he heads to Paris as the number one seed.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2215201181-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Jannik Sinner looking dejected during his defeat to Carlos Alcaraz at the 2025 Italian Open\" class=\"wp-image-93880\" \/>Photo by Giuseppe Maffia\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/news\/andy-roddick-predicts-whos-winning-between-jannik-sinner-and-carlos-alcaraz-in-french-open-semi-final\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sinner reached the semi-finals<\/a> of last year\u2019s French Open, narrowly losing out to rival Alcaraz in a five-set thriller on Court Phillipe Chatrier.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019ll be hoping to go all the way this time around, but hasn\u2019t been done any favors by the draw, which has seen him placed in the same half of the bracket as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/alexander-zverev\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alexander Zverev<\/a> and Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n<p>Jannik Sinner\u2019s potential path to the Roland Garros title<\/p>\n<ul class=\"inline-links multi\">\n<li>F \u2013 Carlos Alcaraz<\/li>\n<li>SF \u2013 Alexander Zverev\/Novak Djokovic<\/li>\n<li>QF \u2013 Jack Draper\/Alex de Minaur<\/li>\n<li>4R \u2013 Andrey Rublev\/Arthur Fils<\/li>\n<li>3R \u2013 Jiri Lehecka\/Alejandro Davidovich Fokina<\/li>\n<li>2R \u2013 Terence Atmane\/Richard Gasquet<\/li>\n<li>1R \u2013 Arthur Rinderknech<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Fans are already looking ahead to the dream final between Sinner and Alcaraz but the Italian will be wary of getting too far ahead of himself, as he first focuses on his first round match.<\/p>\n<p>Sinner will take on home favorite Arthur Rinderknech in the first round of the French Open when the tournament begins on Sunday, May 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jannik Sinner made his highly anticipated return to tennis in Rome and immediately reminded fans of why he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[4294,6359,25564,4718,55644,79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-125631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","10":"tag-italian-open","11":"tag-jannik-sinner","12":"tag-nicola-pietrangeli","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114557941568330111","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}