Player features
Altmaier on how ‘picking pieces’ from rivals will fuel his revenge plan
Germany faces top-seeded Sinner in Vienna on Wednesday
October 21, 2025
Hu Chengwei/Getty Images
Daniel Altmaier faced Jannik Sinner in Shanghai earlier this month.
Andy West
Eighteen days was enough time for Daniel Altmaier to worry about his recent meeting with Jannik Sinner.
The German will seek quick revenge against the PIF ATP Ranking No. 2 player in the first round of the First Bank Open in Vienna on Wednesday. This will be the second consecutive Lexus ATP event between the two, following Sinner’s 6-3, 6-3 win at the Rolex Shanghai Masters on October 4.
“Honestly, I’m very optimistic about it,” Altmaier told ATPTour.com shortly after his draw with top-seeded Sinner at the ATP 500. “I’m always really looking forward to revenge as soon as possible. I’m someone who really enjoys the challenge of revenge, so something like this always brings out the best in me. I’m really looking forward to that fight.”
“Obviously, playing against those big guys requires playing in front of a big crowd. There are a lot of German supporters in Vienna too… I’m looking forward to it, to be honest.”
Even at 27 years old, Altmaier, ranked 51st in the world, considers himself a player in transition. His efforts to add variety to his game appear to be paying off in 2025, with him recording a single-season personal best of 18 Tour-level wins during this period, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. He has high hopes of extending that record by defeating Sinner on Wednesday afternoon for his sixth career top-10 win.
“I think I have a different style of play and I’m currently working on becoming a better player,” Altmaier said. “One is the aggressive side and the other is being patient. The mental side is also very important. On the one hand [with this match] It’s just that we’re at the end of the year, so it’s more mentally challenging. I’m going to sit down with my team and see what tactics work best heading into the game. As the game evolves, we will make adjustments. ”
Altmaier knows what it takes to beat Sinner. At the 2023 French Open, he defeated the Italian, then ranked ninth in the world, across five sets in a marathon match of 5 hours and 26 minutes. This victory came just a few months after Sinner lifted his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto and began a run of spectacular performances that has barely stopped since.
“It’s a great win, it’s a great win,” Altmaier said of his 2023 second-round win over Sinner in Paris. “[But since then] He has certainly become a consistent player, dominating the Tour alongside Carlos [Alcaraz]this is a fact. I think you have to respect that, and I really like seeing how other people make their games so consistent. I’m someone who really looks left and right and picks and chooses what’s best for me. ”
Altmaier, who is just four spots shy of a career-high ranking in the PIF ATP Rankings, is looking for a late-season surge on European indoor hard courts to cap off the best year of his career, but admits it doesn’t always go to plan.
“I’ve improved a lot this year as a player mentally and personally, but winning more games and becoming more consistent,” the German said. “I’ve had my share of challenges this year. My team has changed and that’s affected me a lot, but I think I’m happy to be in this position, close to my best ranking, and there’s only a chance of moving up over the next three or four months.”
