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Tears after Crime Against Sinner
Altmaier sensationally knocks out the French Open co-favorite
6/1/2023 at 6:22 p.m
Match point fended off, then tennis coup: Daniel Altmaier, 79th in the world rankings, throws young star Jannik Sinner out in Paris. The 24-year-old German and the Italian favorite for the title of the French Open fight a dramatic fight. In the end, Altmaier celebrates one of the greatest successes of his career.
Daniel Altmaier cried out his joy and was celebrated for the sensation in a big tennis drama. The 24-year-old reached the third round at the French Open in a five-set thriller against Italian title contender Jannik Sinner. After 5:26 hours he made the 6: 7 (0: 7), 7: 6 (9: 7), 1: 6, 7: 6 (7: 4), 7: 5 perfect with an ace.
After repelling two match points in the fourth round, Altmaier celebrated one of the greatest successes of his career. Already in the first round of the US Open 2022 he had forced Sinner into five sentences – at that time with the better end for the South Tyrolean. Against the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, Altmaier is now about to make it into the round of 16.
After the match, Altmaier received a standing ovation and burst into tears. “I just love tennis,” said the tennis star. “I have a strong team behind me. Here you have to play every point as well as you can. I don’t know if you can call this match historic, but it was definitely one to remember.”
Only the second win against top ten players
Shortly before, Anna-Lena Friedsam failed as the last German starter in the women’s competition in the second round. The 29-year-old from Andernach lost to the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrowa after just 62 minutes 2:6, 0:6 and largely had no chance. Previously, Jule Niemeier and Tatjana Maria had already left at the start.
Altmaier then managed a coup similar to that in 2020, when he defeated the highly rated Italian Matteo Berrettini and reached the round of 16 in a Grand Slam for the only time in his career. This success was also the previous only win against a player from the top ten in the world rankings.
Altmaier started stable and was at times 4:3 ahead with a break. After losing the tie-break to zero, he had the middle finger of his left hand treated longer. The ice therapy helped, and Altmaier, with strong nerves, converted the fifth chance to win the second set with an overhead ball after more than two hours. Sinner seemed vulnerable, but initially turned up the heat. In just 27 minutes, Altmaier saw the third set gone. Altmaier emphasized before the game that he did not see his only second second-round game as a bonus. “If that were a reward, I wouldn’t need to go out on the pitch.”
And he continued to show great fighting spirit in the fourth round. But again the world number 79. not taking advantage of a break. Altmaier fended off the first match point with a net scooter and saved himself in the new tie-break. There he got the sentence with a fine volley stop – this round alone lasted 90 minutes. In the fifth round he served to victory with a score of 5:4, suddenly his nerves were trembling. But again he took the serve from Sinner – and was allowed to celebrate after a lot of shaking.