22-year-old Jannik Sinner earned his ticket to the next round of the Australian Open 2024, after defeating his Dutch opponent Botic van de Zandschulp by 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and 34 minutes spent at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Sunday, January 14.

There were a lot of attentive eyes on Sinner’s run at the 2024 Australian Open and the youngster has provided a good display of his skills so far. Sinner will be facing another Dutch opponent, Jasper De Jong in his second round match of the tournament. Upon his opening victory, the Italian was sure to acknowledge the ‘Carota Boys’, a traveling fan group of players who have made quite a presence on social media.

Australian Open 2024: Day 1 Updates

“Yeah, it feels good. I was not expecting them to come here, but it’s nice to see them in the stands (smiling). ” Sinner said about his fan group Carota Boys

The Italian fan group consists of people dressed up as carrots and following the player for his games across different venues. During the post-match press conference, Sinner made sure to appreciate the support of the Carota Boys and expressed how surprised he was when he found them in Australia.

“I want to win as many matches as possible, but maybe this support gives me in the key moments maybe this extra belief maybe. Who knows?” Sinner added.

SEMI-FINAL VS DJOKOVIC?

Apart from his lighter comments, Sinner even discussed eyeing a potential semi-final against Novak Djokovic and how he is preparing himself for the upcoming matches in the competition. Ever since Sinner marked his first-ever Masters title win in 2023 at Toronto and his ATP final against Serbia’s Djokovic, expectations have been high from the Italian.

“It’s Sunday today, it’s so long to go. But for sure you are aiming for these matches,” Sinner said. Both Sinner and Djokovic are in the same half of the draw. Djokovic and Sinner have met as many as 5 times on the tour with the Serb dominating their head-to-head record with 4 wins. However, the World No. 4 won their latest meeting at Davis Cup last year.

Djokovic began his campaign after surviving a scare against 18-year-old Dino Prizmic in his first-round match in the evening session at the Rod Laver Arena.

The youngster is helmed as one of the leading names to go further in the Australian Open 2024 and the intense competition that both Sinner and Djokovic showcased during the ATP World Tour finals, has left tennis enthusiasts wanting for more of the same.

“I don’t want to say much more about this at the moment because I feel that there is still a lot of work to do to get to this point. So yeah, let’s see. Nobody can tell the future.” he added.