Bartoli on Sinner: "He wasn’t far off from his best version"

For his return to competition after a three-month hiatus, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner kicked off his Rome tournament with a win against Mariano Navone in the second round (6-3, 6-4).

Absent since the Australian Open, the Italian, cheered by the crowd on center court, was immediately in form and advanced to the third round, where he will face Dutch lucky loser Jesper De Jong.

For three months, Sinner was unable to play, but he continues his winning streak. Indeed, the 23-year-old has not lost since the Beijing tournament final in early October, where he fell in a third-set tiebreak against Carlos Alcaraz, and is now on a run of 23 consecutive victories in official competition.

Speaking as a consultant for Sky Sports, Marion Bartoli shared her first impressions after the ATP No. 1’s return.

"I thought he was already in great shape. He moves well. He hits hard with his forehand and backhand, solid on his feet. From the baseline, I found him really impressive—he moves well, makes the right tactical choices.

Open-stance backhand, still as effective on defensive backhands, aggressive with his forehand—the ball really comes off his racket quickly. You wouldn’t think Jannik hasn’t played a match in three months; he’s already at a very high level.

In terms of precision and timing, he was already very sharp. He wasn’t far off from his best version. Maybe 5 or 10% short, a few forehand attack shots where he loses control a bit, but honestly, that’s nitpicking. The foundation was extremely solid.

I find this very promising for what’s to come. What will be interesting next is to see how he performs as he advances in the draw against even sharper opponents.

But here, we saw the gap he has compared to players like Navone, who still have strong credentials on clay. Of course, Sinner is capable of raising his level extremely quickly, and he could be dangerous as early as Roland-Garros," Bartoli elaborated to L’Équipe.