Tennis - US Open 2024 - Jannik Sinner : "It was very difficult for me to enjoy in certain moments"
Jannik Sinner a tenu son rang pour aller chercher l'US Open 2024, grâce à une performance magistrale dimanche soir contre Taylor Fritz (6-3, 6-4, 7-5). Un triomphe qui lui a permis de soulever son deuxième titre en Grand Chelem, après son succès à Melbourne en janvier. Sur le court Arthur-Ashe, l'Italien a montré une maîtrise impressionnante, confirmant son statut de numéro 1 mondial. Il est le le huitième à avoir réussi le double Cincinnati / US Open. La performance est brillante, surtout après avoir dû gérer son affaire de dopage, rendue publique avant l'US Open, depuis plusieurs mois mais aussi la maladie de sa tante, qui semble particulièrement l'affecter. Rien ne pouvait arrêter ce Sinner-là.
Vidéo : @USOpen
Vidéo : @USOpen
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00:00Yeah, amazing, amazing feeling. Obviously, it was a tough match. I felt like I was playing
00:11some good tennis from the back of the court. And yeah, so I'm happy about today's performance.
00:17Thank you very much. One question each. We have a big room. English and then we'll go
00:21to Italian. Questions. Russell.
00:25Yannick, congratulations. Russell Fuller from the BBC. It's quite unusual to win a first
00:30and a second Grand Slam in the same year. So which of the successes did you find harder?
00:36Was it harder to win in Melbourne or harder to win here in New York?
00:41I believe that you can't really compare them because it's different circumstances, different
00:50times of the year. I believe that in Melbourne it was a kind of relief because in my mind
00:57it was like I was working for it and you never know if you can win one Grand Slam or not.
01:05But when you win one, you know that you can do it potentially. Here it was difficult because
01:12also the pre-tournament circumstances were not easy. I felt like that I've grown match by match
01:22and that my confidence level went higher and higher at some point. But it was different
01:31because I had maybe a bit more pressure this time than in Australia. So I'm happy how I handled
01:39this one and I'm just excited to have this trophy with me.
01:45Matt Futtermuth, The Athletic. Congratulations. You mentioned the pre-tournament circumstances.
01:52Was there a point during the past two weeks where you were really able to leave that all behind
01:58and move on from it in a way? What allowed you to do that?
02:03What allowed me to do that was always the people who are close to me daily. People who know me
02:14already from when I was very young and also my family and my team and everyone who supports
02:22me daily. I always try to stick together with them, especially when the moments are getting
02:29difficult and tough because I know that they can help me in these moments.
02:36It was and it's still a little bit in my mind. It's not that it's gone but when I'm on court I
02:44try to focus about the game, I try to handle the situation in the best possible way,
02:51communication with the team. In practice courts at the end of the day we always try to improve
02:58as a player. That's why we practice for. It was not easy, that's for sure, but
03:07in the other way I try to stay focused which I guess I've done a great job also mentally,
03:14staying there every point I play and that's it.
03:19I just wonder how you feel about the fact that the Grand Slams in 2024 all went to you and Carlitos
03:29and maybe the fact that the big three did not win a major this year for the first time in
03:3422 years. Does it feel different to you now at these Grand Slams given that?
03:40Well, it is a bit different for sure. It's something new but it's also nice to see new
03:47champions, nice to see new rivalries. I always have players and I will always have players who
03:57are going to make me a better player because there are going to be times where they beat me,
04:03then you have to try to find a way how to win against certain players and also today we saw
04:09that not everything was perfect. I could have served slightly better but this makes me realise
04:17that the work never stops. It's always a continual work which at the end of the day,
04:26if you want to be a better player you always have to work and you have to have these daily routines
04:32except difficult times on court. I feel it's good for the sport to have some new champions.
04:43Young lady in the middle.
04:46You said on the court that it means so much because it hasn't been an easy period. I just
04:50wonder whether you could put into words how much you felt there's been a cloud hanging over you
04:55during the tournament?
04:58During the tournament?
04:59Yeah.
05:01It's difficult to describe everything because me and my team and the people who are close to me,
05:09they know what I've been through in the last months. It was not only
05:17one week before the tournament, it was months.
05:24In this moment, as I said before, I always try to close myself with people and
05:30understand what happened and try to accept it in a certain way. When the work starts I try to enjoy.
05:43Obviously it was very difficult for me to enjoy in certain moments how I behaved or how I walked
05:49on the court in certain tournaments before. It was not the same as it used to be. Whoever knows
05:56me better, they know that something was wrong. During this tournament, slowly I restarted to
06:07feel a little bit more how I am as a person. It doesn't really matter what the result was.
06:14This tournament for sure helped me a little bit. Now it's good to have a small amount of time
06:22a little bit off and then to restart again from China.
06:30You dedicated this title to your aunt. I was wondering if you wanted to
06:34share the relationship that you have with her, what role she played in your life.
06:39Yeah, my aunt, she is a very important person because when my parents
06:48were young, they were working every day and all day. Sometimes when I had to go to
06:57ski races, I went with her. She always helped me in summertime when my parents were
07:07working and I had some days off or free days. When you're young, you don't go to practice every day.
07:13So I hang around a lot with her and she's a very important person in my life.
07:22And this also, especially when I had this difficult time, I tried to see it in a different way.
07:27Sport, things can happen, unfortunately. But the real life is something different.
07:38We travel a lot, so it's difficult to spend time with the people who
07:41you really love. But if I would have more time, for sure, I would spend more time with the people
07:49I really care about. It was and is a really difficult moment now, but I just also have to
08:01accept that not everything is perfect.
08:07Yeah, Mike, you spoke about some of the challenges before this tournament and how you've dealt with them.
08:15How do you think you'll look back on this year, from the Australian Open
08:19to those challenges to winning the US Open?
08:23Yeah, it was a great run overall. For sure, winning the first Grand Slam of the year gives
08:31you confidence, it gives you good feelings. But in the other way, you always have to work,
08:41it never stops. You always keep going and keep going. Until now, I didn't have so much time off
08:49to say, OK, you've done a great job. But yeah, it's also a big thanks to my team, because
09:04we always try some new things out. Tactically, how can you play better against certain opponents?
09:13How do you work on certain shots, whether you feel better or not? I was a lot in the gym,
09:19because I knew physically I still had to improve, and I still have to improve a lot. But this is all
09:25part of sacrifices you make for the eventual future. We will keep working. In my mind, I know
09:36that I'm not perfect and I will never be perfect, but we always try to evolve in my game.
09:44And then after my career, I can say, OK, I've done everything possible to be at 100 per cent.
09:54What do you think this title means for the tennis world, given the pre-tournament
10:00circumstances and all the reactions that have been in the tennis world?
10:07What do you mean?
10:09What do you think this title means, considering the pre-tournament events and all the reactions
10:18that we have seen in the tennis world? I don't know. You have to ask all the other players.
10:29I don't know. What I can say is that the general reaction of the players was quite positive,
10:40even when things came out. There have been, of course, some different voices,
10:47but this is in everything. This is not only in tennis, this is in other sports and different
10:54jobs also. You can't really do anything about that. That's why you have, as I said before,
11:02the people who are close to you. These are the people who know what was going on and what
11:10I and my team went through, because it was not only me, it was the whole situation.
11:16That's it. I just can talk from my side and from my team's perspective, and we are all
11:24very proud of this achievement.