Trending: Sinner ‘Astonished’ by ‘Fair Crowd’ Support in Beijing After Upsetting Home Favorite
Jannik Sinner was facing a local player in the 2024 China Open semi-final and was pleasantly surprised that the crowd was equally cheering for both players.
Bu Yunchaokete is a rising player from China who spent much of this year grinding on the ATP Challenger Tour. It was a wonderful decision for his career because he improved massively, playing lots of tennis and gaining a great deal of confidence as well.
That was evident this week at the China Open as he reached the semi-finals. It’s the best run he’s ever had on the ATP Tour, especially since this event is an ATP 500 tournament, which is quite significant.
He faced reigning World No. 1, Jannik Sinner, in the semi-final, and it was a competitive match. The Chinese player likely outperformed expectations, but battling the Italian the way he did was quite impressive.
What impressed Sinner, besides Bu’s performance, was how fair the crowd was. He expected most of them to heavily back their player, which would have made sense given that the match was held in China.
The Italian was surprised to see the crowd equally supporting both players, but there are reasons for that. Sinner is a big name, the reigning World No. 1, and that naturally draws support.
Legends like Roger Federer always had fans backing them, even when playing against local favorites. Additionally, Chinese fans have generally been model spectators over the years.
“Yeah, I was actually quite surprised how fair the crowd was. It was a very fair crowd. It was a great atmosphere. Was a packed stadium. It was a pleasure to play there, to be honest, to be part of the match. I felt like the match, it was going to get very tight in the second set. That’s exactly what people wanted to see.”