CHINA OPEN

September 28, 2024

Jannik Sinner

Press Conference

J. SINNER/R. Safiullin

3-6, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: First of all, congrats, Jannik. A 13-match winning streak for you now. You have the most match wins of all the ATP players this season. Are you satisfied with your consistency so far?

JANNIK SINNER: Yeah, I'm very happy. Obviously talking about today's match, was a very tough match. I didn't start at my best. Happy how I found a way at the end. Then let's see what's coming.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I'm curious to hear, with the slow start you had in the first set, how important was it for you to come out strong in the second set immediately?

JANNIK SINNER: Yeah, it was quite important. It was similar also to the first-round match. Today I struggled a little bit, especially with my serve on the first set. He was returning very well. He was playing very strong from the baseline. I just tried to react a bit. I changed a couple things in the second set, which then helped me to get in the rhythm of the match.

Yeah, you know, third sets are always kind of tricky. But happy how I reacted. Of course, if I want to win the next round, I have to raise my level. Jiri is playing some amazing tennis, so let's see.

Q. Obviously, we heard during your match about the WADA appeal. I'm just wondering, what is your reaction to WADA's appeal? When did you know they had appealed? What do you make of them releasing their statement just at the same time as you're playing?

JANNIK SINNER: Well, we cannot control everything, no? Obviously I'm very disappointed and also surprised of this appeal, to be honest, because we had three hearings. All three hearings came out very positively for me.

You know, I was not expecting it. I knew it couple of days ago, that they were going to appeal, that today it's going to go official, so...

But yeah, it's surprise. We always talk about the same thing. Maybe they just want to make sure that everything is in the right position. Yeah, I'm just surprised that they appealed.

Q. On a lighter note, it was announced that you are going to be an ambassador for Milano Cortina Olympic Games. Can you share what it means for you and if you have any favorite winter sports?

JANNIK SINNER: I would say skiing, no, because I was a skier when I was young.

Yeah, it's nothing exciting be ambassador of the volunteers, because also in tennis you have a lot of volunteers who work for a certain tournaments like this, a lot of tournaments. I feel like without the volunteers, the event is not even happening. There we might need slightly more. There are around 18,000 we are searching for, so let's see.

It's the greatest or one of the biggest events of sport. Milano Cortina, talking about skiing, all that stuff, I went through these mountains and this beautiful site that we have.

Yeah, I'm exciting to be the first one. Hopefully I have a chance also to go there, trying to help a little bit. Yeah, hopefully we have enough volunteers.