Jannik Sinner enjoyed a strong week on his return to tennis, losing only to Carlos Alcaraz in the Italian Open final.

His level was consistently high, and only once fatigue set in did we really start to see a notable drop-off from the world number one.

With time and more matches, that is an issue that will soon be eradicated, allowing him to truly push the Spaniard to the brink once again.

However, that is not the only thing that Jannik Sinner feels he must improve ahead of Roland Garros.

Chatting with the Italian media after an inspired week in front of his home crowd, Sinner assessed his level: ’I’m happy with how this week went. Now let’s see how we can do in Paris.

‘First, there is an important week for me, we have to improve many things to move forward in this tournament. First of all, physically, right? Because the matches are different, but we have a lot of feedback and obviously tennis-wise there are things we can improve, but we will make the most of it.’

However, the world number one was well aware that more needs to be done to compete in Paris. He continued: ’Let’s say that there are many things that I have to improve, the movement. But above all also the matches, right? I miss games, sometimes I feel a bit of a deficit in important points, but that’s okay. We’ll see.’

Coming back from such a lengthy spell away from the sport was always going to provoke physical repercussions, which really reared themselves in the Italian Open final.

Sinner was banned from tennis for three months, with this event being his first since the Australian Open in January.

It had been a gruelling week for the Italian, who admittedly impressed many as he strolled past some top opposition.

However, in Paris, things will be completely different. Namely, the three-set format from which he benefited in Rome will increase to five.

This past week will certainly have aided in his ability to compete, but there are justifiable doubts over his ability to last over the two weeks.

Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images

This will likely frustrate Sinner, especially given how close he was to the final last year as Carlos Alcaraz knocked him out in the semi-finals during a thrilling five-set encounter.

Previously, his best-ever performance was reaching the quarter-final in 2020, boasting a record of 16 wins and five losses at the event.

ATPCarlos AlcarazFrench OpenJannik Sinner