On a Wednesday in the desert last March, Reilly Opelka, the American with a cannon of a serve, was grinding out a tough match against French number one Arthur Rinderknech. Nearby, former US Open men's finalist Kei Nishikori beat Luca Nardi, part of the new wave of Italian talent, while Brazilian phenom Joao Fonseca closed out Pavel Kotov, who reached number 50 in the world in 2024.
At Wimbledon, Sinner looked like losing to Dimitrov, flummoxed by him at two sets down, then poor old Griggzy hurt his pec and had to quit; in the last round here, he was craping at 1-1 and a break down to Elliot Spizzirri, only for the officials to call a heat break which allowed him to recover. Which is to say that, like the best sportsfolk, he has a goldfish memory, able to accept and absorb fortune, ill or good, and move on remorselessly.
I don't really feel like there is a lot of house money or underdog mentality that I'm feeling, because I don't feel like I have been playing anything outside of my comfort zone or outside of my normal level, Jovic said. I have come from two other tournaments where I was playing every day and winning a lot of matches, as well.