Shintaro Mochizuki saw his breakthrough run at Wimbledon come to an end against Jannik Sinner.
Mochizuki won the junior Wimbledon title in 2019, but he had never been past the second round of a senior Grand Slam until this year’s grass court major.
After coming through qualifying, the world number 151 reached the fourth round of Wimbledon after beating the likes of Rafael Jodar and Ethan Quinn.
Mochizuki ultimately lost to Sinner 6-3, 7-6(0), 6-3, but he believes he was able to cause the world number one some issues on Centre Court.
Shintaro Mochizuki claims Jannik Sinner struggled with low balls against him
Mochizuki was unable to take a set from Sinner, but he stated that he has gained a lot of confidence after playing the defending Wimbledon champion.
The 23-year-old also explained how he felt that Sinner was struggling against him at points, as the balls were bouncing low on the Centre Court grass.
“It definitely gave me a lot of confidence playing against world number one on this beautiful court,” Mochizuki said in his post-match press conference. “This is my first time playing on Centre Court at any slam, so…
“Like I said, if I focus on myself and do what I need to do and focus one point at a time, like, I can do something, even against Jannik Sinner. I saw him struggle a little bit on my balls ’cause the balls were low, and he had to lift them up.
“He served well, so it was hard. Yeah, I think I did my best. I had some chances, like I said. I think that is what I can take from this match. I’ll take all the confidence from this one, yeah.”
Give us your one crazy prediction for the second week of Wimbledon!
Shintaro Mochizuki responds when asked if he exceeded his expectations vs Jannik Sinner
Mochizuki has a previous win over a top 10 player in his career, having beaten Taylor Fritz at the Japan Open in 2023.
Despite his clear potential, Mochizuki admitted that he exceeded his expectations against Sinner.
“Yeah, I felt much better on court than I thought before I played,” answered Mochizuki. “I knew what I had to do. I just focused on myself, not thinking I’m playing against someone who’s number one in the world.
“I just kept my focus. That worked, I think, because that is the only thing I can do. That can hurt him, I think, a little bit.
“But at the end he served well, so I couldn’t break any games. That cost me a lot. But still I think I played well and I had some chances, too. I think, yeah, it was close.”
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Mochizuki will now be rewarded for his run to the fourth round of Wimbledon, as he is now set to climb up to world number 115 in the live rankings.
This is still 23 places from his career-high ranking of world number 92, which Mochizuki achieved in November last year.
