Italian teenage prodigy Jannik Sinner will play the king of clay Rafael Nadal in the second round of the Italian Open 2021. After Sinner’s early exit in Madrid ruined the match-up between him and Nadal, fans across the globe will finally get to see them against each other.

Nadal and Sinner have met once in their career, back in French Open 2020. There Sinner was beaten in straight sets, but since then the Italian has matured as a tennis player. He has risen up the rankings and won two titles. In 2021 he even reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final at Miami.

“After Madrid, with the team, we resumed working according to our usual plan. No upheaval. Maybe we focused a little more on service. Against Nadal, it will be important to have the right mentality. I know I have more weapons than Roland Garros, but at the same time Rafa who is a great champion will try to put me in difficulty,” Sinner said.

Jannik Sinner confident of his clash against Rafael Nadal at Italian Open 2021

Earlier this year, Sinner and Nadal practiced together prior to the Australian Open. With that, Sinner is confident of hurting Nadal in his home tournament. Sinner is wary of Nadal’s tactical flexibilities on clay, but he is trusting himself to find the ‘right solution to any situation’.

“I know him, but now he knows more than I do. It will be an important moment for me, let’s see how it goes. I will enter the field with the right mentality and I will try to hurt him a lot with my game. Now with my team we will try to understand what I can do better than last time. This is a sport of situations and for each one you have to find the right solution.” 

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(Quotes have been translated using Google Translate)

Sinner is playing at home, whereas Nadal is a nine-time champion in Rome. Nadal is a skilled artist here, and Sinner is a prodigy. All this amounts to an interesting match-up.

The Italian has faced some top-ranked players early on in his career. The clay-court season has already seen him face stern competition against the likes of Novak Djokovic, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, etc. However, with a rather inconsistent Nadal in Rome, Sinner could pull an upset in the Italian capital.

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