Jannik Sinner has revealed there’s one ATP player who has left a lasting impression on him.
The world number one has rallied past virtually everyone this year, winning a leading 59 matches this year, two ahead of closest rival Alexander Zverev.
Having recovered from a set down in his opening two matches at the China Open, the defending champion has progressed more assertively in his next couple.
Crowned as the world number one during this year’s French Open, Jannik Sinner has not really looked back – in truth he’s not had the time to.
Despite the dominance however, there is one ATP player who’s caught the eye of the world number one.
Jannik Sinner tips Bu Yunchaokete for ATP stardom
The 23-year-old was forced to produce his best tennis at the key moments to get past Chinese wildcard Bu Yunchaokete in the semi-final.
The world number 96 will move up nearly 30 places after his run to the last four as he became the first Chinese man to reach that stage in the event’s history.
Having defeated Olympic bronze medallist Lorenzo Musetti and world number six Andrey Rublev on the way to the semi-finals, Bu announced himself bullishly to the tennis world.
“I watched a bit of his quarter-final match against Andrey, trying to understand a bit how he plays. But when you feel his ball… it’s different when you play against him,” Sinner explained to Punto de Break.
Having closed out the match in a typically clinical tie-break, Sinner had no qualms about tipping his opponent for the very top.
“I wanted to understand how he moved, how his shots were. I felt like he was everywhere. It’s tough to face him; he has achieved good results in the last month.
“He is also very young, and I have a feeling that we will see more of him on these bigger stages.”
Chinese tennis is going from strength to strength
It’s been a glorious two months for Chinese tennis. Qinwen Zheng’s Olympic heroics against Iga Swiatek to eventually clinch gold have forced her name into the mainstream.
China also saw doubles success in Paris, with Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen narrowly missing out on the gold medal, ultimately losing to the Czechian duo Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova.
Juncheng Shang beat Musetti to win his first ATP title in Chengdu, with the 19-year-old another player making waves for Chinese tennis.
With Shuai Zhang bouncing back from 24 straight singles defeats with a thrilling campaign so far in Beijing, Bu is simply another player making sure he’s a part of this renaissance.
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