Jannik Sinner hasn’t lost a match on the ATP Tour since February and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down heading into Roland Garros.
Since his quarterfinal exit at the Qatar Open, the Italian has put together a remarkable run, winning five straight tournaments—all of them ATP Masters 1000s.
Sinner is now aiming to finish off the Career Grand Slam at the French Open and is widely seen as the clear favourite to win it all.
Before he even hits his first ball in Paris, Pegula gave her thoughts on what kind of performance it would take to knock him off.
Jessica Pegula shares thoughts on Jannik Sinner’s remarkable form
Speaking before the start of the tournament, Pegula said: “Yeah, the Jannik problem, I don’t have an answer for that. I wish… I don’t think anybody does. That’s a tough one.
“I think myself, I’m just, like, stumped kind of by just the level that he’s been able to put on. And then now with Carlos not playing, you’re kind of looking like like the inevitable is going to happen.
“Obviously, the thing about this sport is anything can happen. Anything’s possible. You never know what’s gonna happen in a match or what’s going to unfold, and if he’s going to stay healthy the entire tournament, now going to three out of five, there’s a lot of other factors.
“So yeah, that is, I’m not sure I have an answer for that, but I think he’s obviously the favourite, and he’s been playing, you know, the best tennis in the world and just been… yeah, it’s hard to put into words, honestly. Like, we’ve talked about it on the podcast, and we’re all just kind of like, we don’t really know what to say. It’s just pretty incredible.
“So, you know, it’s funny, you see that we used to say this with Novak and you’re like, ‘Oh, no one’s gonna do this again’, and now you’re kind of like, ‘Well, someone’s already starting to do it again!’ And it’s crazy how, yeah, these players come into a draw, and things can change.”
Pegula did add that “anything is possible” in tennis, though, and that it will come down to whether Sinner can stay healthy throughout an entire Grand Slam event.
Jessica Pegula sees more opportunity on the women’s side
Pegula went on to say: “So to the women’s side, yeah, it seems a bit more open, just with different results on the clay, you know, with Elina [Svitolina] winning Rome, Marta [Kostyuk] winning Madrid, it seems like there’s a lot of favourites that could win in a way.
“There’s a lot of people playing good tennis, myself included, and then obviously, Aryna’s, I think, record in Grand Slams has been probably the best, but you have Elina playing really well.”
“Coco [Gauff] obviously loves to play well here, so it’s definitely a lot of, I think, space for someone to win, which makes it, I think, fun.”
“Maybe less stressful if I was a guy, knowing that that I had to somehow take down Jannik, but it’s a bit more open, which I think is really exciting for women’s tennis, because there’s a lot of really good players right now that are able to possibly break through and win a title or at least challenge, you know, the top players.”
Pegula is set to face Australia’s Kimberly Birrell in her first match at Roland Garros.
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