Jannik Sinner took the difficult decision of retiring from the match against Carlos Alcaraz on Monday as he didn't feel good. Talking to the crowd, he said that while he usually starts his speeches talking to the rival, this time he wanted to address first the crowd, as he was "super, super sorry to disappoint".
"From yesterday I didn't feel great. I thought that I would improve during the night, but I came up worse. I tried to come out, tried to make it at least a small match, but I couldn't handle more, so I'm very sorry. tried to come out, tried to make it at least a small match, but I couldn't handle more, so I'm very sorry."
Afterwards, he declined doing a press conference, but still provided some quotes via a press release, saying that he "tried to go for the fans, trying to give a match". Still, he doesn't want "to take anything away from Carlos, he had a great week, great, great tournament."
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He confirmed that his focus is the US Open, but recovery is more important. "If I'm ready physically and mentally, I will be ready to push. Now a couple days of recovery and then we get again back at work, and hopefully we'll be ready".
He also commented that it was, despite all, a very positive week. "I have already some points I need to improve if I want to go far in US Open (...) My level is in a good spot for sure, but there's still room to improve."