Let’s be real and say that someone did not have their morning cup of coffee when they started making comments in an interview about Jannik Sinner. That someone is former Wimbledon doubles champion Frederik Nielsen. Nielsen must not have felt he was getting enough attention in his personal life and started spouting relative nonsense.
But he didn’t just discuss Sinner, the top-ranked player on the ATP tour currently, in an interview with SpilXperten, but Nielsen had the same kind of thought about Taylor Fritz and Alexander Zverev as he did about the Italian. That is Nielsen believes Sinner, Fritz, and Zverev are “unwatchable” and/or “boring.” Someone give Nielsen a hug.
Perhaps Nielsen prefers to watch players such as Carlos Alcaraz or Holger Rune. Fair enough. But preferring one style to another does not make the other bad or not enjoyable. Nielsen has a right to his opinion, even though the vast majority of tennis fans would likely disagree.
In the interview, the former doubles champion said, “Among active players (who are not fun to watch play), I would probably point to Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev, and Jannik Sinner. Zverev doesn’t seem like he enjoys being there. I respect that he plays efficiently, but it’s not watchable. Honestly, I also find Jannik Sinner a bit boring to watch because everything is so monotonous. He’s almost too good a guy.”
So, let’s get this correct. Nielsen would prefer the player to be a jerk because there is a greater chance he might like watching the player do his job. Sinner is well-known to be a nice guy, but that doesn’t mean his tennis is not interesting. He moves around the court extremely well and hits cross-court winners with uncommon ease.
There could be reasons to dislike Zverev off the court, but on the court at least Zverev shows some emotion on his face. That Nielsen thinks the German is not having fun – Nielsen’s interpretation and not fact – does not mean his shot-making overall is boring.
Raducanu knows tennis but not politics. Raducanu knows tennis but not politics. dark. Next
Nielsen must really hate watching Danielle Collins play if he hates seeing Zverev. Collins seems almost always constantly upset with herself. Or maybe Nielsen doesn’t watch women’s tennis, we cannot be sure.
Fritz moves a lot like Sinner and hits with pace. He might not pout or shout, but his flare is more than enough for fans to tune in to see his matches. Based on how Fritz handles himself, Frederik Nielsen must strongly dislike Casper Ruud as well as Ruud purposely shows zero emotion.
Again, Nielsen has a right to his opinion, but he should also be aware that just because what he likes is interesting to him then that doesn’t make the other side completely without merit. Someone buy Nielsen a drink of whatever he wants so he can relax a bit.