Dalibor Svrcina remembers 16-year-old Jannik Sinner: ‘You could definitely see the potential’ | ATP Tour

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Svrcina remembers 16-year-old Sinner: ‘You could definitely see the potential’

Svrcina supplies unique perception forward of his showdown with Sinner at Indian Wells

March 06, 2026

In May 2018, 16-year-old Jannik Sinner was taking part in the last event of his junior profession in Milan when he confronted Czech Jonas Forejtek in the third spherical. In the crowd that day was one other Czech participant, Dalibor Svrcina.

“He was playing good, but you wouldn’t say he was something so special. You could definitely see the potential, but he was still young, skinny, and making some errors,” Svrcina informed ATPTour.com. “It’s definitely superb to see the progress of Carlos and Jannik, as a result of I knew each of them in the juniors and so they actually weren’t forward a lot.

“So it’s really, really great to see and motivate that if you are improving and doing the right things, you can improve in your own way.”

Svrcina will problem Sinner for the first time Friday in the second spherical of the first ATP Masters 1000 occasion of the 12 months: the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

“He knows who I am. I know him, obviously, but we never practiced,” Svrcina mentioned. “We know each other from juniors a little bit. He didn’t play much juniors, but we saw each other. I’ve known him since he was maybe 15, 16, so we say hi to each other, but we never got to practice with each other.”

The 23-year-old will now stand throughout the web from the No. 2 participant in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time, having by no means beforehand clashed in opposition to a Top-10 opponent. Svrcina is effectively conscious of the take a look at he’ll face in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Headvert showdown.

“I think he’s just so solid and playing so fast, taking the time away. He can do basically everything,” Svrcina mentioned. “You can see that earlier than, perhaps one or two years in the past, he did not have a lot variation in pictures, like perhaps Carlos’ drop pictures.

“But you can see he is trying to improve that. He is trying to play some drop shots. You can see that they are always working on something to improve. So, basically, I will see on Friday what’s so amazing about it, but let’s see. I am looking forward to it.”

The Czech has taken inspiration from watching Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz proceed to succeed in new heights. Svrcina is at present discovering a variety of pleasure in the information that on daily basis, he can discover a approach to enhance.

“You can go to the gym, you can work on yourself, mentally, physically. This is the part of tennis that you don’t see much with the players because mostly you see how they practice, how they play matches,” Svrcina mentioned. “But you don’t see the stuff they do at home or in everyday life. So I’m enjoying that a lot.”

The World No. 109, who reached a career-high No. 86 in November, has lately begun taking part in greater matches. Less than a 12 months in the past, he confronted former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in Toronto earlier than taking part in him once more in Shanghai.

“Before that match in Toronto against Medvedev, I didn’t get to play a lot of matches like that against the top guys, and now I’ve played Medvedev twice,” Svrcina mentioned. “I played Bublik. Now I’m going to play Sinner, so for me, it’s really, really good to gain these experiences.”

Svrcina traveled to the California desert from Acapulco with health coach Thiyagarajan Karunakaran. They flew from Acapulco to Tijuana, crossed the border from Mexico into the United States, after which, after spending one afternoon in San Diego, drove to Indian Wells.

The Ostrava-born righty likes spending time with pals in nature at residence, notably in the close by mountains. So it’s becoming that Svrcina marveled at the mountains throughout that drive and is getting ready for the greatest match of his life with mountains in the backdrop of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

“I’m really liking it. The place is amazing,” Svrcina mentioned. “The tournament is great, so I’m very happy to get through the qualifying and the first round. I’m very glad I’m playing well and to be able to play Jannik next round is amazing.”