pIn the final full week of January in 2018, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a played qualifying for an ITF World Tennis Tour event in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Then 16, he had not yet earned a PIF ATP Rankings point./p
pStanding across the net in the second round was a Hungarian named a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/fabian-marozsan/m0ci/overview'Fabian Marozsan/a. The 18-year-old rallied for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory that day, and he has not faced the Italian since./p
pThat will change Thursday when Marozsan plays new World No. 1 Sinner in the second round of the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/halle/500/overview'Terra Wortmann Open/a in Halle./p
pldquo;I remember that I was going to play against an Italian player who was very young and I just saw the last game of his match. He played very fast, he was moving into the court and putting a lot of pressure on the opponent and I said, lsquo;Okay, it's not going to be easy. But he's still young, and maybe I have a chance to win against himrsquo;,rdquo; Marozsan recalled from their meeting in Egypt. ldquo;That was maybe my first or second year of the ITFs. I just started the Futures tournaments and I was still still a young player, but he was much younger than me.rdquo;/p
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pThinking back more than six years to that encounter, Marozsan believed Sinner could be a ldquo;really good player, but not the No. 1rdquo;./p
pldquo;But he was very, very talented,rdquo; Marozsan said. ldquo;He is moving really fast and well. He is very smart on the court and huge forehand, good backhand also. He has the good feeling with the balls and he's a good guy so let's see. I just want to enjoy and maybe use my chances if I have some.rdquo;/p
pNow 24 years old, Marozsan has climbed as high as No. 36 in the PIF ATP Rankings. He has already sprung big upsets, including a stunner last year in Rome against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a./p
pSomething that has helped the Hungarian is his improved mentality and the use of a ldquo;poker face". Growing up, Marozsan would cry during matches or even throw his racquet. People in Hungary told him if he wanted to become a professional player, he needed to change and focus on the next point./p
pldquo;It's not easy because sometimes when things are not going in a good way, I'm that person who is showing the negative things. It's not a good thing and I have to learn how to [hide] the face and how to keep calm a little bit and and show to everyone and of course to the opponent that I am still positive and believing in myself,rdquo; Marozsan said. ldquo;But sometimes it's really hard and sometimes I'm missing this one because I'm showing the negative and the bad things. I'm trying to focus on this one.rdquo;/p
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pOne advantage Sinner will have is his experience on the sportrsquo;s biggest stages. Although Marozsan has played seven Top 10 opponents (4-3) according to Infosys ATP Stats, centre court has not been his playground the way it has been for the player he called ldquo;the best at the momentrdquo;: Sinner./p
pldquo;He feels like he's at home because of the centre court, I never played here before. It's a little bit difficult and different for me, so let's see,rdquo; Marozsan said ahead of the pair's first Lexus ATP Head2Head (tour-level) meeting. ldquo;Irsquo;ll try to believe in myself and keep my serve and probably I have a bigger chance here on grass to beat him or maybe just win one set. So we will see, I'm looking forward this one and I want to enjoy [it].rdquo;/p
p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p
