Jannik Sinner has given his reaction after a brazen fan tried to steal from his bag at the US Open. The world No. 1 was making his way off court after thrashing Alexander Bublik 6-1 6-1 6-1 in the last 16 when an individual was spotted trying to grab something from his bag.
As Sinner was signing autographs, the would-be thief tried to unzip a part of the bag, only for a security guard to quickly intervene. The Italian promptly walked away from the scene, shaking his head in disbelief. He has since recorded another straight-sets victory, beating fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals. Asked about the bizarre incident, Sinner admitted it was a first for him. He said: “No, I haven’t experienced [that before].”
Despite the incident, Sinner went on to praise tourmanent security. He added: “I checked straight away if he took something. I don’t have only rackets there. I have my phone and my wallet. But I feel like security is doing a great job.
“Especially on court, there is lots of security and I believe, especially at the big tournaments, they do an amazing job to make us feel safe. Even though new things happen like this, they make a great job.”
Sinner made short work of Musetti to make yet another Grand Slam semi-final. The 24-year-old has faced his countrymen 16 times at tour level and won each time, including three times against Musetti.
That never looked like changing, with Sinner easing to a 6-1 6-4 6-2 win in exactly two hours to set up a semi-final clash against surprise package Felix Auger-Aliassime, who knocked out Alex de Minaur in the last eight. Musetti is yet to win a set against Sinner but so dominant is the defending champion against almost everyone on the men’s tour, that is fast becoming the norm.
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The victory saw Sinner become the youngest man ever to win 25 Grand Slam matches in a season, while he has already equalled Nicola Pietrangeli’s 86 major wins, making him the joint most successful Italian on the big stage less than a month after his 24th birthday.
It took Musetti six games just to get on the board but the second set was much tighter and the match might have headed in a different direction had the 23-year-old taken his chances. However, Sinner saved all seven break points he faced while converting five of the six he created.
He is now just one victory away from making a fifth-straight Grand Slam final. The other semi-final sees a heavyweight duel between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.