Andre Agassi sparked a huge debate when he suggested Jannik Sinner’s preparations should to be questioned after his shock collapse at the French Open and now John McEnroe has responded to his comments.
Sinner’s demise against Juan Manuel Cerundolo was one of the biggest upsets of the tennis year, with the world No 1 sliding to a defeat when he was on the brink of a comfortable win in Paris.
The hot conditions appeared to contribute to his downfall, with tennis legend Agassi refusing to hold back as he told TNT Sports that Sinner had no excuses for his sudden loss of conditioning.
“Sinner going out was huge,” said Agassi. ”I don’t know if you’ve called him out on that enough by the way.
“I had a body clock of about four hours when I played, and if you gave me hot conditions, it dropped to about three hours 45. It didn’t change a lot. Maybe if you gave me great conditions, I could stretch it to four hours 10.
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“But [for Sinner] to go from him playing five-and-a-half hours last year in the final, to having the heat tap him in one hour 45.
“There’s a difference between being fit and being prepared, and I have to point to a flaw in that kind of preparation, because there’s something you can do about that.
“It’s not that that dude doesn’t work hard, it’s not that he isn’t fit – he was one game away [from winning] and then the whole draw would have opened up. We all thought we’d see him here, maybe not lose a set.
“They’re so scientific these days about their prep, about their recovery. I’m sure he has a staff of doctors and people.
“He needs to figure out what to change. He may need to bring somebody in. It’s got to be some form of a hydration issue.
“I know before I went out in Australia and played in a three out of five in hot conditions, I was doing 10 to 12 litres of water within 24 hours of that match. Plus my four-to-one ratio of protein over carbs.
“You have to force it, and it’s better to have it in you and not need it, than need it and not have it. I’d question his intake and if he’s doing it properly.
“I know nothing about his preparation. I know that he can play for five-and-a-half hours. He’s proven it. I know he’s the best player on the planet right now, but I also know there’s no excuse for him to run into a wall at an hour 45.”
Now Agassi’s fellow tennis legend McEnroe has responded, as he spoke to Tennis365 at a TNT Sports event and gave his respond to Agassi’s comments.
“This is not a new issue. He’s had trouble with this for a couple of years,” said McEnroe.
“It is brutal when you have to deal with this kind of heat, but he has had three or four different occasions when he has cramped up.
“So I’m assuming that over the course of the last three or four years, they have been doing everything they can possibly do, whether it’s testing or food intake, to work out a way to minimise this issue. I think they will continue to do that.
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“In my opinion, it’s in his head a little bit. It’s hard to deal with that and remain calm.
“Carlos Alcaraz had a problem against Zverev at the Australian. He was cramping and somehow he recovered.
“Sinner has gotten through some of these matches when he has cramped and we’d be talking about a different final if he had got through that one game.
“It’s too bad. It shows he’s human, but I’d be willing to bet anything that they are doing everything they can to fix this.”
Sinner is not expected to play again until he start his defence of the Wimbledon title at the end of this month.
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