(Reuters) – The Rotterdam title may pale in comparison to winning the Australian Open Grand Slam but Jannik Sinner said his victory in the ATP 500 event was still important to him after the Italian rose to a career-high number three in the world rankings.
Sinner, who lifted his first major at Melbourne Park by defeating Daniil Medvedev in the final, stretched his winning run in 2024 to 12 matches with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Alex de Minaur in the Rotterdam final on Sunday.
The 22-year-old’s second trophy of the season means he will leapfrog Medvedev to number three when the rankings are updated later on Monday.
“Every time you win a title, it doesn’t matter how big, it means a lot,” Sinner said.
“I had a bit more attention (as Australian Open champion), but when you earn something, you have to deal with that. I felt like I was trying to put 100% effort into everything I’ve done and that’s the result of this week.
“It’s going to start again from zero at Indian Wells, so I’m already trying to improve. Let’s see what’s coming.”
Sinner will look to gain ground on world number two and defending Indian Wells champion Carlos Alcaraz in the hardcourt tournament next month.
“My team, we did a really good job a few weeks ago and now we did a very good job here. I’m really proud of the level I played throughout the week,” he said.
“We’ve been in tough situations but we handled it the right way. We’ll always try to improve, it’s the most important.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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