The organizers of the Paris Masters are facing heavy criticism over their scheduling after Jannik Sinner was eliminated following a night-out elimination.
The fourth-seeded Italian, one of the most in-form players in the world, only completed his second-round win over Mackenzie McDonald at 2:37 a.m. on Thursday morning and was then scheduled to play Alex de Minaur at 5 p.m. the same day.
Casper Ruud, who is in eighth place, criticized the scheduling on social media and wrote 14.5 hours to recover at 2:37 this morning…what a joke.”
It was then confirmed around 90 minutes before the start of the game that Sinner, winner of two titles in his last three tournaments, including in Vienna last Sunday, had withdrawn due to fatigue.
“I’m sorry to inform you that I’m withdrawing from today’s game in Bercy,” Sinner wrote on X. “I finished the game when it was almost three in the morning and didn’t go to bed until a few hours later . I had less than 12 hours to rest and prepare for the next game. I have to make the right decision for my health and my body. The coming weeks with the ATP Finals at home and the Davis Cup will be very important, now I’m focusing on preparing for these important events. See you in Turin! Forza!”
De Minaur moves straight into the quarterfinals, where he will face fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who beat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-3.
Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak to 15 games and reached the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters for the ninth consecutive time with a 4:6, 7:6(2), 6:4 victory over Tallon Griekspoor.
Grigor Dimitrov continued his good form and defeated Alexander Bublik 6:2, 6:2, but Roman Safiullin was unable to build on his surprise against Carlos Alcaraz and lost 4:6, 6:4, 6:2 to his Russian compatriot Karen Khachanov.
