The coach of Novak Djokovic has named Jannik Sinner as the only other player who could stop Carlos Alcaraz in his tracks at this year’s US Open.
Goran Ivanisevic has hailed the Italian 21-year-old who has reached the quarter-final or better at least once at every Grand Slam tournament. Most recently, Sinner was a semi-finalist at Wimbledon where he lost in straight sets to Djokovic. He has won eight Tour titles so far in his career and is a two-time runner-up at the Miami Masters.
“Alcaraz is a story by himself, and Sinner is the only one who can threaten him at the US Open, along with Novak,” Ivanisevic told Sportske Novosti.
“The game that Sinner has doesn’t match Alcaraz and they have had very interesting matches so far.
“Also, if Medvedev plays well on the day, he is also a phenomenal player for me. Novak remains the only ‘dinosaur’ among those older ones, the rest are all young guys. It’s a normal sequence, but there’s still something to ask the elders.”
Sinner is currently tied at 3-3 with Alcaraz in their head-to-head. They clashed in the quarter-finals of last year’s US Open where the Spaniard prevailed in a late-night five-set thriller. Since then, Alcaraz also won their meeting in Indian Wells before Sinner was victorious in Miami.
“It will be an interesting rivalry. Each of their matches is tense,” Ivanisevic commented. “There is no one who can stay in a long match with Alcaraz except Sinner and Djokovic. Those who cannot stay for long at Alcaraz’s pace can immediately pack their rackets and go home.”
Recently Sinner’s coach, Simone Vagnozzi, admitted that there is still room for improvement in his game during an interview with Corriere della Sera. Despite his credentials, the world No.8 has a losing record against top-10 opposition of 13-26 (4-5 this season).
“He can improve in many respects: experience, the tactical vision of the match, there is no area of his tennis in which Sinner is at his top (peak). And this is great news for me,” Vagnozzi commented.
Sinner and his nemesis Alcaraz will return to action next week at the Canadian Masters which is being held in Toronto this year. However, Djokovic will not be playing after recently withdrawing from the event due to fatigue.
