{"id":356023,"date":"2025-08-19T05:37:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T05:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/356023\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T05:37:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T05:37:14","slug":"jannik-sinners-words-to-opponent-after-match-what-sets-him-apart-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/356023\/","title":{"rendered":"Jannik Sinner’s words to opponent after match \u2013 ‘What sets him apart’ | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terence Atmane believes that Jannik Sinner’s<\/a> inner strength is what sets him apart from other tennis stars, as the Italian urged him to continue the momentum in his career. The French tennis<\/a> player locked horns with the world no.1 at the Cincinnati Open<\/a> at the weekend, aiming for a place in the final.<\/p>\n

However, Sinner’s class showed through as he hit Atmane down in two sets, winning 7-6, 6-2. The 23-year-old was blown away by the Italian’s prowess on the court, claiming that to play at the highest level requires a “new dimension” of physical and mental energy. Speaking to L’Equipe<\/a> after the match, Atmane revealed what Sinner said to him in a private conversation as the umpire called game, as he said: “He wished me well, to keep up the momentum, to keep working.<\/p>\n

“I told him I’ll do my best to play him as many times as possible in my career. I’ll have to work hard to be at the level of the best.”<\/p>\n

Atmane went on to hail Sinner’s intense energy on the court, adding that the tennis star’s work rate is phenomenal. Asked what it was like to play against the Wimbledon<\/a> champion, he said: “Tennis-wise, it’s still doable. Then, physically and mentally, it takes on a whole new dimension. Simply winning a point requires intense concentration and energy.<\/p>\n

“I think that’s what sets him apart from other players; otherwise, he wouldn’t be world number one. Tennis-wise, what he offers is already exceptional. But what he offers mentally and physically is another dimension.”<\/p>\n

Discussing the match, Atmane added: “He was better than me from the tiebreak onwards until the end of the match. I didn’t start very well with a double fault. He changed his position on the return and it destabilized me on my second, which went long. I missed a return that was within my reach. Then a forehand.<\/p>\n

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“And it was 3-0, and against that kind of player, you can’t miss opportunities. I let him get away in the tiebreak and he knew how to seize his opportunities. In the second set, there’s nothing to say, he was better than me.”<\/p>\n

The duo also exchanged an unusual gift before the semi-final began<\/a>, in the form of tradable Pokemon cards. Atmane admitted that the decision to gift Sinner a card came “naturally”.<\/p>\n

When quizzed on the exchange, he said: “I did a Pok\u00e9mon opening in Toronto with Ga\u00ebl Monfils and I got a really nice Pikachu. I thought it best symbolized Pok\u00e9mon, so why not give him a card for his birthday?<\/p>\n

“I’m happy to give it to him because it’s my world, so why not share it with Jannik? It came naturally. I chose the card last night (Friday night) before going to bed. I thought I’d give it to him before the match and wish him good luck in the semi-finals.”<\/p>\n

Sinner will take on old foe Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> in the final of the Cincinnati Open, in the final preparation for the US Open which is set to begin on August 19. The Italian will begin with a mixed doubles match in the round of 16 alongside Katerina Siniakova, with their opponents confirmed as Alexander Zverev<\/a> and Belinda Bencic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Terence Atmane believes that Jannik Sinner’s inner strength is what sets him apart from other tennis stars, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[107663,4718,79,1068,31635,121263,16,15,18056],"class_list":{"0":"post-356023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-cincinnati-open","9":"tag-jannik-sinner","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-tennis-section","13":"tag-terence-atmane","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-us-open-tennis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115053818277981177","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356023","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=356023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}