Australian Open 2025: Back from the dead - Jannik Sinner’s laughing on eve of Alex de Minaur clash

Jannik Sinner’s illness has come and gone. From what I saw on Tuesday … he’s laughing.

Jannik Sinner celebrates match point against Holger Rune.

Rumours, scuttlebutt, hogwash and a bit of wishful thinking were swirling through the corridors of Melbourne Park.

Jannik Sinner’s illness was serious. Might not train. Might not play against Alex de Minaur. Might forfeit. Might have Covid. Might be a goner. All of which proved to be poppycock when the world No.1 had an uncomplicated late-afternoon session with Australian coach Darren Cahill.

There’s seven indoor practice courts at Melbourne Park. Alex de Minaur was at one end of the complex from 4pm on Tuesday, hitting a million crosscourt backhands and down-the-line forehands, suggesting he’ll be directing most of his traffic to Sinner’s two-handed wing. At the other end was Sinner and Cahill, who wore a black T-shirt, with his black cap flicked backwards, and – long story short – Sinner looked completely fine. We can take a forfeit off the table of possibilities.

De Minaur’s camp is quietly optimistic about his chances because of Sinner’s rate of unforced errors at the Open. Even before illness had him stumbling across Rod Laver Arena like a scene from The Return Of The Living Dead against Holger Rune, the top seed was spraying long and wide an unusually large number of groundstroke miscalculations.

He registered 29 unforced errors against Tristan Schoolkate, 37 against Marcos Giron and 35 against Rune. That’s a lot. De Minaur has been up and down in this regard. Battling to beat Francisco Cerundolo in round three, he made a whopping 62 unforced inaccuracies.

By no stretch of the imagination did Sinner over-exert himself on Tuesday. He hit his lasso forehands, knocked off plenty of volleys, did a lot of serving, laughed when taking a breather, appeared fully aware of where he was, showed no risk of falling flat on his face, all suggesting he felt OK before he called out, “Three more!”

He completed one of those last three rallies by switching his racquet around and hitting the ball with his handle. Nothing wrong with his hand-eye co-ordination. He creamed it. Roger Federer used to do this, wrapping up sessions by using his handle to hit balls into grandstands like he was a baseball batter. Sinner won his last couple of points against Cahill and then took one large stride over the net to perform an act that suggested he was well in mind and body. A ball was in the middle of the court. Sinner stood on it, squashing it, then it popped up sideways. He trapped it like a soccer ball then flicked it waist-high before delivering a sideways kick that went exactly where it was intended. Straight at the belly one of his entourage. All in attendance had a good old chuckle. Sinner’s illness has come and gone. From what I saw, he’s laughing..