Jannik Sinner spoke about his rivalry against Carlos Alcaraz after their semifinal in Indian Wells and explained about how his 19-year-old Spanish rival has improved him improve as a player.
Alcaraz leads 3-2 in his five head-to-head matches against Sinner and won their most meetings in the epic five-set quarter final at the US Open last September and in last weekend’s Indian Wells semifinal.
“I always want to show excellent tennis and at the US Open I think we both played very well. Between us there are always many exchanges, a lot of speed, it is seen that we know each other, although in each game we change something. I think that if I improved it was also thanks to him, today in my head I already have what I need to improve to beat him next time. Every time we play, we have good matches. Every match is very close. I learn many things from him. He has made me a better player for sure. He pushes me to the limit every time. We are still very young and we both can improve our level. Carlos is at a higher level than me at the moment. He is again world number 1 player. He had a huge season last year. Congratulations to him and his team”, said Sinner.
Sinner won the Montpellier title beating Maxime Cressy and lost to Danil Medvedv in the Rotterdam final before beating world number 5 Taylor Fritz in the quarter final in Indian Wells last week to reach his second Masters 1000 semifinal.
“I started the season quite well with the win in Montpellier, the final in Rotterdam and reached the semifinal at Indian Wells. I am quite happy to be in this position but obviously I want more and more. I am pushing every time and I am trying my best. Hopefully I can continue to play at a good level. My win against defending champion Taylor Fritz in Indian Wells was a confidence booster. I am not 100% of my potential. I try to keep pushing. I am still 21 and there is room for improvement. It’s good that I can compete with the best players in the world. Let’s see how the future goes. We are working very hard in the gym every day. I feel much better physically than one year ago. Hopefully I will be stronger in one year’s time”.
