Roger Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, accused tournament organisers of altering court speeds to guarantee the matchup between Carlos Alcaraz and the Italian, to which Jannik Sinner responded on Wednesday. The two rising stars of the new generation of men’s tennis have squared off in the last three major finals and have shared all eight of the previous Slam titles.
Federer remarked when talking about contemporary tennis courts on an episode of Served with Andy Roddick. According to the 44-year-old, a slower court would require exceptional tennis skills from a weaker player to defeat a more competent opponent, while a faster court would allow lower-ranked players to pull off an upset.
“I understand the safety net tournament directors see in making the surface slower,” said Federer. “For the weaker player, he has to hit extra amazing shots to beat Sinner.
“Whereas if it’s quick, he can only maybe blast a few at the right time, and he gets past. That’s why tournament directors [like] having Sinner and Alcaraz in the finals, it kind of works for the game.”
Sinner Reacts To Federer’s Remark
Before his China Open campaign began, Sinner was questioned about Federer’s remark and he offered his opinion on the matter.
“The hard courts, they are at times very similar,” he said. “At times, there are some small changes, a couple of changes. One tournament that comes up a bit is Indian Wells because the ball bounces very high
“It’s a bit different how the ball reacts with the court, but yeah, if not, we have more or less similar game situations on the court. This is how it has been for a long time, like this. I don’t know if there is going to be a change or not.
“I’m just a player who tries to adapt myself in the best possible way. I feel like I’m doing a good job in this, but let’s see what the future can give us in every tournament.”
Sinner lost the top ranking position after losing to Alcaraz in the US Open final. In his opening match on Thursday against Grand Slam champion Marin Cilic in Beijing, the Italian will try to recover.
“We are working on new things, we are changing a lot of small things that I’m thinking of now,” said the Italian. “The amount of mistakes at the moment is for sure a little bit higher, but I hope that this recovers in a very positive way.
“It’s just a question of time. Let’s see how long I take it. I don’t know how much I’m able to do it on the actual match court because one thing is practice, and one thing is a match. It’s great to work on something new, then we’ll see how this ends up.”
