Jannik Sinner claims loss to Rafael Nadal is "tough to accept", says he will "not sleep well at night"

Jannik Sinner's run at the 2021 Italian Open came to an end with his second-round loss to Rafael Nadal on Wednesday. Sinner lost in straight sets but provided some stiff resistance to Nadal for most parts of the match.

The teenager led by a break twice in the opening set (at 1-0 and 3-2), and even held a 3-1 advantage in the second set. But he failed to capitalize on these leads and ended up losing 5-7, 4-6.

Quite understandably, Jannik Sinner rued his missed chances during his post-match press conference. The Italian believes he should have done better on the day against Rafael Nadal, given how much he has improved since the last time he faced the Mallorcan (at the 2020 French Open).

"For sure I'm more disappointed and especially sad today, because I think obviously we both played quite a high-level match," Jannik Sinner said. "Now it's tough to accept that I'm already out of the court because the first set I was up twice with a break, and the second set I was up with a break. It's tough to accept, because obviously I think Roland Garros was more like a test to see where I am and this time I knew that I could have and maybe today I should have done something more."

Jannik Sinner claimed he fared much better against Nadal than he did against Novak Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters. But that only made the final result on Wednesday more painful for the Italian.

"If I compare my game against Djokovic with today, I think I have improved in many things," Sinner said. "Today is a day that hurts, that will not even make me sleep well at night."

The 19-year-old went on to point out that Rafael Nadal played the big points better, much as he did during their encounter at Roland Garros. Sinner acknowledged that he can learn a lot from the defeat, and vowed to work hard in that regard along with his coaching team.

"He handled the situations better than me, like the last time. There are for sure lessons that I can learn," Sinner continued. "We have to come together with my team and watch many, many times this match from today. Then we will see what we should have done better."

When I lose, I always try to take out the positives: Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner also stressed on the importance of taking the 'positives' from the defeat. But in the same breath, he admitted that he was struggling to get over some of the points where he felt he could have done better.

"When I lose I always try to [take] out the positives, trying to find what I should have done better," Sinner said. "Obviously right now it's tough to talk about the match. 20 minutes ago I was still on court. I'm still playing a little bit in my head what I should have done better in some exact points."

Jannik Sinner further claimed that the loss was especially tough because it came at his home event. He also expressed regret that he couldn't reach the Round of 16, which will be played in front of bigger crowds.

"It's tough right now, to be honest, because playing here, in Rome, it's quite a special tournament I have to say, especially for Italians," Jannik Sinner said. "If [I] would have won today, tomorrow there [would] be a little bit of a crowd. I love to play in front of crowds."