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Jannik Sinner, who arrives at the Madrid Open as the player to beat, with expectations growing is keen to further display what he is capable of delivering.
The top-seeded player won a tour-leading three titles so far this year and he will have a chance to move within 30 points of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the ATP Rankings if he claim his third Masters title in the Spanish capital. The 22-year-old will start his Madrid campaign against countryman Lorenzo Sonego. "I don't want to put pressure on myself. I'm living a very positive moment, winning a lot of matches, I just try to keep going like this. In my mind, I know that I can and have to improve if I want to win more," Sinner said as quoted by ATP. "I am searching for new opportunities and I feel like every tournament I play, there can be a good opportunity trying to show that my level has raised. Showing what I have improved and that's for sure something that I would like to do here. This is a new opportunity, new tournament and we'll see how it goes," he added. In his two prior visits to the clay-court event, Sinner lost in the second round in 2021 and the third round in 2022 due to his inability to perform at his peak. The 13-time tour-level champion, who entered Madrid two years ago ranked No. 12 in the ATP Rankings, presents a different challenge to opponents today than he did then. With his newfound experience, Sinner hopes to better adapt to the high altitude conditions in the capital of Spain. "I'm trying to understand my clay game a little bit better. Here is a little bit different than all the other tournaments because we play in altitude. The ball is higher. It's flying and it's quite fast, but I used to struggle quite a lot in the previous years finding my level here. So it's going to be interesting to see how I'm going to play this year. I think that's the most important," Sinner said. "I feel like that I still have to find [my game here]. I have three more days of practice before the opening-round match, which is hopefully going to help me," he added. Sinner previously appeared on clay this season in Monte-Carlo, where he suffered a semi-final loss to eventual champion Stefanos Tsitsipas. (ANI)
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