Jannik Sinner couldn't tell exactly why he struggled physically during his Australian Open third-round match, but suspected that sleeping poorly might have had something to do with that.
After stunningly losing the first set to world No. 85 Eliot Spizzirri in the scorching heat, the defending Melbourne champion quickly bounced back by taking the second set.
But then, Sinner started to cramp early in the third set and fell 1-3 behind. At that moment, it even looked like the Italian tennis star may not even be able to finish the match. Fortunately for the No. 2 seed, the Australian Open organizers invoked the extreme heat policy, which led to an eight-minute break while the roof on Rod Laver Arena was being closed.
The four-time Grand Slam champion benefited greatly from the break as won five of the next six games to take the third set before completing a 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 win.
Sinner: Sometimes there are no real explanations… But I didn't sleep the way I wanted last night
“I mean, we have now twice in a row gone to Dubai for a reason and also for the weather conditions. This year was not as warm as it was last year. I feel like sometimes there are no real explanations,” the 24-year-old said.
“For example, this night I didn’t sleep the way I wanted to. The quality of sleep was not perfect. Maybe it was this; maybe not. Regardless on that, I try to be in the best possible shape every day. Recovery, everything going in the right direction. It can happen. I know my body a little bit better now. I hope that it goes slowly away, which that was the case."
For Sinner, having a one-day break between matches is something that should definitely help him recover, but also to figure out how to avoid the same thing happening when he meets Luciano Darderi in the Australian Open round-of-16 on Monday.
