World No. 2 Jannik Sinner has cast doubt on his place at Roland Garros as he continues his recovery from a hip injury picked up at at the Madrid Open. The 22-year-old has already been forced to pull out of the Italian Open in his home country. The French Open gets underway on May 20 and will be shown live on Eurosport and discovery+.
Jannik Sinner admits he may have to miss the French Open, which gets underway on Monday, May 20, and will be shown live on Eurosport and discovery+.
The 22-year-old is one of the favourites heading into the Grand Slam, having already won the Australian Open this year.
But after wins at the Rotterdam Open and Miami Open this year, Sinner admits he will “stop a little longer” if the issue has not cleared up.
“At Roland Garros, I’ll only play if I’m 100 per cent, if there’s any doubt we have to see,” Sinner said in quotes published by Sky Sports.
“Some injuries can be prevented, some can’t. So far we’ve done a great job, last year I played a whole season without injuries and also in this season so far.
“With the MRI we saw that something isn’t 100 per cent ok. However, we have everything under control.
“If it doesn’t get 100 per cent cured, I’ll stop a little longer. Taking care of the body is more important than everything else.
“Now I’ll have a period without playing, we need to see how to work from next week onwards.
“Preparation for Roland Garros will clearly not be optimal. We’ll give our best to get there in the best possible conditions to compete, but playing a Grand Slam without matches in Rome isn’t easy.”
Sinner will be unable to play in front of a home crowd at next week’s Italian Open after failing to recover from a hip injury.
The world No. 2 picked up the injury during the Madrid Open, withdrawing ahead of his quarter-final clash against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
“It is not easy to write this message but, after speaking again with the doctors and specialists about my hip problems, I have to announce that unfortunately I will not be able to play in Rome,” Sinner posted on social media.
“Obviously I’m very sad that I didn’t recover, it being one of my favourite tournaments ever. I couldn’t wait to come back and play at home in front of the Italian crowd.
“I will still come to Rome for a few days and stop by the Foro Italico. Thank you for your messages of support which I appreciate very much! Now I will work with my team and doctors to be ready for Roland-Garros.”
Carlos Alcaraz is also facing a race to be fit for Roland-Garros after pulling out of the Italian Open with an arm injury, while it remains to be seen whether Daniil Medvedev, another player injured in Madrid, will return in time.
Novak Djokovic is set to return at the Italian Open after opting to miss the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in the Spanish capital, and will look to build momentum heading into Roland-Garros.
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