Australian Open: Nadal grabs Sinner for quarantine
Rafael Nadal has made an appointment with Jannik Sinner to prepare in Australia for the first Grand Slam tournament in 2021. What are the rest of the world's elite doing?
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Dec 19, 2020, 06:25 pm
Young parents will know it from kindergarten or have been told by their children: Before the whole group goes to the nearby park, each girl and boy should look for a second child to take by the hand. It seems to be roughly the same in the first week of quarantine for the Australian Open 2021. Because every participant is apparently allowed to practice only with a single colleague during the first seven days.
In any case, Rafael Nadal created facts straight away - and made an appointment with Jannik Sinner. A brilliant move by the Spaniard: On the one hand, the young Italian has long been very popular as a training partner with other players, such as Stan Wawrinka in Monte Carlo. In addition, Sinner can do things that can really hurt Nadal. The youngster in Roland Garros proved this when he mercilessly maltreated the forehand of the eventual winner with flat, hard balls.
Thiem has several candidates to choose from
So Rafa is well positioned. But what about the other contenders for the first major title of 2021? Dominic Thiem, for example, will be spoiled for choice between Best Friend Diego Schwartzman and Very Best Friend Dennis Novak, and could then choose Andrey Rublev , with whom the Austrian has enjoyed training often in the recent past.
Rublev would also be a natural candidate for Alexander Zverev. The two have known each other since their youth and get along very well. But maybe it's about generating high levels of friction energy in the early training phase of the year. Then Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas are strongly advised to try it together. The relationship between the two title contenders is known to be somewhat or even very broken.
Who would like to train with Isner, Fognini or Paire?
But there are also question marks behind a few other players: Who would like to let Reilly Opelka and John Isner shoot them around the ears? Who would want to try the capricious divas Benoit Paire or Fabio Fognini ? And: is Gael Monfils even available - or does Elina Svitolina claim the services of her French friend?
Or will everything just be wasted - and will Novak Djokovic dominate Melbourne as usual? The announcement of who the world number one will take by the hand is still pending.