“Are you f***ing kidding me?” – Fans rebuff claims about Jannik Sinner & Grigor Dimitrov having similarly difficult paths to Miami Open final

An infographic depicting Jannik Sinner and Grigor Dimitrov’s paths to the 2024 Miami Open final through social media has caused frustration among fans.

Sinner, the current Australian Open title holder, was granted a first-round pass and began his Miami Open journey in the Round of 64. He successfully advanced to the final after defeating Andrea Vavassori, Tallon Griekspoor, Christopher O’Connell, Tomas Machac, and Daniil Medvedev, the second seed.

Despite being seeded 11th at the tournament, Dimitrov was still granted a first-round bye. He successfully defeated Alejandro Tabilo, Yannick Hanfmann, Hubert Hurkacz, Carlos Alcaraz, and Alexander Zverev in his matches.

Despite facing many tough opponents, Sinner has only beaten one top 10 player, Medvedev. In contrast, Dimitrov had to defeat three top 10 players in order to secure his place in the highly regarded ATP Masters 1000 final.

The Miami Open, which is being televised by Tennis Channel for viewers in the US, posted an infographic on X (formerly known as Twitter) before the final match on Sunday, along with the caption:

“Not an easy path for either competitor”

Despite this, the caption received negative feedback from tennis fans. A particularly outraged fan expressed their opinion that O’Connell, Machac, and Medvedev were significantly less challenging opponents than Hurkacz, Zverev, and Alcaraz.

“Are you f***ing kidding me… O’Connell, Machac and the guy he’s beaten five times in a row or Hurkacz, Alcaraz and Zverev????????????”the fan wrote.

A different fan directly questioned Tennis Channel, suggesting that it was inappropriate for them to have shared the caption they did.

“How even dare you?”the fan asked.

Another fan commented that while Sinner’s journey to the final may have been relatively easy, it paled in comparison to Dimitrov’s challenging route.

“Sinner’s path was a piece of cake, 1 top 10 compared with Dimitrov which will be 4 top 10 players,”the fan wrote.

Additional responses to the post from tennis fans can be seen below:

Jannik Sinner leads Grigor Dimitrov in their head-to-head record

Prior to their latest matchup, Sinner and Dimitrov had met on three occasions on the ATP Tour. In their head-to-head record, the Italian currently holds the advantage with a 2-1 lead over the Bulgarian.

Their most recent encounter was in the quarterfinals of the 2023 China Open, where Sinner emerged victorious with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Prior to this, Dimitrov had only managed to defeat the 22-year-old once before, at the 2020 Italian Open. Back then, Sinner was still climbing up the rankings while the Bulgarian was already an established player in the top 20 of the ATP rankings.

Sinner and Dimitrov also met at the previous year’s Miami Open. Despite a tough match, the Italian emerged victorious and went on to become the tournament’s runner-up, ultimately falling to Daniil Medvedev in the final.