Former World No.1 Kim Clijsters has praised Jannik Sinner’s decision to skip the Canadian Open ahead of the all-important US Open. Sinner recently won the Wimbledon title after beating Alexander Zverev in the summit clash.
Earlier in the season, the Italian had a dream run on clay, winning one title after the other. However, his body could not hold up as he suffered a shocking second-round loss against Juan Manuel Cerundolo at the French Open despite having a two-sets-to-love lead. Sinner admitted he could handle the extreme heat in Paris.
“After carefully considering all the factors together with my team, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw from Montreal,” Sinner said in a statement.
“It is never easy to miss such an important event, but we believe this is the right decision to prioritise my health. I’m disappointed not to be there, but I look forward to returning to Montreal in the future.”
Clijsters believes there could be something going on behind the scenes for Sinner, which we are not aware of.
“I think that just shows that maybe there is something going on behind the scenes that we are not ready for,” Clijsters stated on the Love All podcast.
“Maybe he is not physically or mentally ready after winning Wimbledon to go back and compete again at such an intense and high level, because these tournaments you play a lot of tennis in a short amount of time and intense matches.
“I think it’s a very smart choice,” she continued. “Knowing the team around him and Darren [Cahill] and the way they work, I am sure they have thought about it for a while, but it’s always with what is coming up in the back of your mind.
“Winning the US Open is obviously going to be his biggest goal for the next few weeks of what is coming up in the States and that is the goal.
“To be ready there and not get burned out mentally or physically, because you want to win another Masters to try and break the record.
The former Belgian player reckons Sinner has made a smart decision as he will keep on breaking new records.
“I think he will break plenty of records or he has been breaking plenty of records.
“I think it’s just very smart to think about what is the most important thing and not get distracted by being the first one to do this or that. I think it’s a smart choice.”
Jannik Sinner’s decision to withdraw from the Canadian Masters ended his pursuit of an unprecedented clean sweep of all nine Masters 1000 titles in a single season.
