Sinner heads into AO cold

Jannik Sinner feels confident making his Australian open start without a real match in hand, with the Italian saying he will be ready to start his season on Monday.

The world No. 2 counts an exhibition loss this week to Carlos Acaraz as the sum total of his match prep for the first major of the season. 

But the Italian who split the four Grand Slam trophies last season with his Spanish rival is far from worried.

He got a taste of the Rod Laver showcourt in Thursday’s  hit-and-giggle exhibition for pros and amateurs worth AUD 1 million (USD 660,000) to what turned out to be a non-professional winner from a Sydney tennis family .

Sydney amateur Jordan Smith beat defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner on his way to claiming the first prize of AU$1m at the “1 Point Slam”

“Every exhibition is so different, you don’t really have the full match feeling back.

You’re not this nervous and tight before these kind of matches. 

“It’s completely different.”

He called the hit-and-giggle “a pretty relaxed occasion.”

“In the past couple of years, I haven’t played any official match before here because of the simple fact that I wanted to have a good off-season, a longer off-season, to get ready for this season again.”