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Heading into the final tennis major of the year at the U.S. Open, questions loom around the No. 1 men's player in the world. Jannik Sinner was humming along through the summer hard court season after his Wimbledon title back in July before disaster struck in the final of the Cincinnati Masters 1000.
Playing against Carlos Alcaraz in the final of a fourth consecutive tournament, Sinner wasn't his usual self in Monday's showpiece. His serve was unusually ineffective, he missed more returns than normal and his usually standout rally tolerance was nowhere to be found. Alcaraz came out blazing, clearly seeking revenge from his loss at Wimbledon, and jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead over the hampered Italian.
Sinner called the doctor at the changeover, but was clearly unfit to continue and retired just 23 minutes into the match, giving Alcaraz the title. With the U.S. Open starting on Sunday, Sinner's health is one of the top storylines in tennis at the moment.
Thankfully, he seems to be feeling a bit better. ESPN analyst Darren Cahill, who is also one of Sinner's coaches, updated the four-time Grand Slam champion's status on Wednesday.
“I spoke to him briefly last night. He was feeling a bit better last night,” Cahill said, per Adam Zagoria of Forbes Sports.He will take today off as well, that's the plan, and hopefully get on the court tomorrow and start hitting a few balls….We are confident he's going to be fine.”
Cahill said that Sinner was suffering from a “virus” in Cincinnati, and Sinner said that he started to feel sick on Sunday following his semifinal victory on Saturday over French qualifier Terence Atmane. The Italian was rolling through the tournament, reaching the final without dropping a set, before coming up ill in the final on Monday.
Cahill's update is bad news for the rest of the field in New York, as it's looking more and more likely that Sinner will be ready to go for his first match on either Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. The World No. 1 has won each of the last three majors on hard courts, including a victory at the 2024 U.S. Open where he defeated American Taylor Fritz in the final.
Sinner's dominance on hard courts is well-documented, and it becomes even more difficult to beat him in best-of-five set matches at Grand Slams. Since the start of 2024, Sinner has a 65-4 record on the hard courts with three losses to Alcaraz and one loss to Andrey Rublev in August of 2024.
If he is healthy and able to take the court, the defending champion is a heavy favorite to take the title. Sinner will find out his path to the title when the draw comes out on Thursday afternoon.
