Tennis: Sinner looking to make statement in Canada

Jannik Sinner has arrived in Montreal and is eager to reignite his season with a defence of his title at the Canadian Open Masters 1000 tournament this week.

The Italian is ranked No.1 in the world right now, but he has failed to reach the final in the past two Grand Slams and missed the Olympics with tonsilitis.

Attention has been squarely on Carlos Alcaraz — who won both the French Open and Wimbledon — as well as Novak Djokovic, who claimed Olympic gold over the weekend.

However, Sinner is eager to remind the world that for the first half of the season, he was the man to beat on the ATP Tour.

Sinner heavy favourite to defend title

With the Canadian Open getting underway this Tuesday, Sinner is a big favourite to win the tournament.

Tennis bookmakers are paying +160 for the 22-year-old to prevail, which puts him well ahead of Alexander Zverev (+500) and Daniil Medvedev (+600).

These skewed odds are in part because Sinner’s biggest rivals, Djokovic and Alcaraz, are both giving the event a miss.

“It feels great,” said Sinner this week, when asked what it is like to be back at the location of his maiden Masters 1000-level title.

“I arrived here quite early.

“Firstly, to get rid of the jetlag.

“Secondly, to recover here from the last part of what I had.

“For sure the first couple of days were very slow days, with not a lot of practise, trying to get the body used to it again.

“Now I’m practising really hard again. I feel my body fighting.

“Honestly, it’s really good and I’m ready to compete again.

“It’s a while since the last match I played at Wimbledon. So, let’s see.

“I’m very excited to be here and hopefully I can show some good tennis.”

Sinner has a 42-4 record in 2024, having won the Australian Open as well as titles in Rotterdam, Miami and Halle.

However, losses in June and July to Alcaraz and Medvedev stymied his domination, as did poor health forcing him to opt out of the Olympics.

Medvedev lurking in the shadows

With Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic stealing all the headlines this season, perpetual performer Medvedev has been pushed to the background.

However, this is the stage of the year where the Russian performs best. As a self-proclaimed ‘hard-court specialist’, he is primed for a strong North American swing over the next five weeks.

Medvedev won the US Open in 2021, and he is paying +500 to claim a second title in New York this September.

This puts him on the fourth line of betting at Bovada for the year’s final Grand Slam — behind Alcaraz (+137), Djokovic (+187) and Sinner (+225), but well ahead of Zverev (+1600) and Rafael Nadal (+2000).

The 28-year-old is seeded to meet Sinner in the semi-finals of this week’s Canadian Open, a match that will provide an excellent benchmark of where each player is at heading into New York.

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