The boy is there and it will be done. The talent can already be seen from how he holds up the exchange and from how he responds without much awe to the number one in the world.
Five years younger, statistically he is replicating the Sinner’s progression from five years ago. Jodar named Rafael, nickname Rafa, from Madrid, at 19 years old, after just a few months in the ATP, plays with the free mind of someone who has nothing to lose despite the home crowd.
Against him there is an imperfect Sinner, who alternates errors (25!) mostly on the forehand that are not his to do with just as many phenomenal plays, which are enough for him to dominate the first set 6-2. But then he has to play a balanced second in which life is often complicated on serve, also because the boy always responds, while Sinner, even in response, wastes several opportunities. There was no shortage of opportunities on both sides: but managed differently, Sinner came out with formidable plays, Jodar saved by Sinner’s errors. This is until the tie break which requires a cold mind and a firm heart, something that Sinner possesses in abundance combined with a now robust dose of tie break experience which in the mix gives the number one in the world a supersequence of 11 consecutive points in the final. It is now a constant for Sinner, as it was for Federer, to outnumber the opponent called to serve first on the delicate sequences of 4-4, 5-5, 6-6. It is there that the other pays for the tension while Jannik now habitually raises the level.
But the young man is there and is among the candidates for the siege of the tennis duopoly, it is no coincidence that he kept the number one on the court for over two hours and did so by standing up to him. Experience and work, if it comes, will do the rest. SInner and Alcaraz know this and respect it. Not only for that name, which evokes heavy predestinations.
