After almost 5:30 hours the big surprise was perfect! With his fifth match point, the German tennis pro Daniel Altmaier sealed the elimination of the Italian top 10 player Jannik Sinner in the second round of the French Open 2023. Altmaier’s next opponent is the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
In a gripping tennis thriller, Altmaier defeated the 21-year-old Sinner 6: 7 (0: 7), 7: 6 (9: 7), 1: 6, 7: 6 (7: 4), 7: 5 and took revenge thus also for the five-set defeat at the US Open 2022, the only duel between the two opponents so far.
“I don’t know if you can call it a historic game, but it’s one to remember,” Altmaier reacted to his coup against the number nine in the world in the subsequent winner’s interview on the Suzanne-Lenglen court.
Above all, the 24-year-old emphasized the audience, which repeatedly pushed him to perform at his best with calls of “Daniel, Daniel”: “I love playing here, I love the audience and the emotions. Tennis would be without the fans not the same. So I’m grateful to every single one who found their way here and enjoyed being here. The most important thing is that you have a good time.”
A look at the statistics underlines how close the game was: Thanks to the clear third set, Sinner even recorded more points than his opponent, but Altmaier showed impressive nerves of steel when it came to breakballs (6/9). Sinner only used six of 21 chances.
Altmaier and the French Open? That fits!
Striking: Altmaier has not reached the second round of any other Grand Slam, but in Rolland Garros he was even in the round of 16 on his debut in the main draw of one of the four biggest tournaments of 2020. A success that could be repeated in 2023.
For the Kempener it was the second career success over a top ten player.
In addition to Altmaier, Olympic champion Alexander Zverev is another German professional in the tournament. Zverev defeated Slovakian Alex Molcan 6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 1 in the night session.