Over the past couple of years, a rivalry has formed between two players that many are backing to dominate the men’s game for the foreseeable future.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have both enjoyed a fairly rapid rise on the Tour with success coming to them quicker than expected. 22-year-old Sinner claimed his maiden Grand Slam title in January at the Australian Open and has only lost two matches coming into the quarter-finals of the French Open. Alcaraz, who is a year younger than his Italian rival, has already held the No.1 ranking with two out of his 13 ATP titles being won at major events.
The question is how do the two players compare against each other and who has the better game?
Speaking to reporters at Roland Garros on Monday, Mats Wilander and Michael Chang weigh in on the discussion. Both men have claimed the Paris title with Wilander triumphing in 1982 followed by Chang in 1989. The duo have first-hand experience of dealing with pressure at a young age with each of them making their Grand Slam debut before turning 18.
“With Alcaraz, I think we know where Alcaraz is going. We know that he’s going to be the best player in the world at times because he’s so good. But he’s most probably going to be a little more up and down because it’s a risky kind of game that he’s playing.” Wilander explained.
“When he’s down, Jannik is going to be there. And when Carlos is up, maybe Carlos is potentially maybe slightly better but I’m not sure.”
Whilst Wilander hails both players, he has also voiced some concerns about Sinner when it comes to playing on clay.He has won one title on the surface so far in his career which was coincidentally against Alcaraz at the 2022 Croatia Open.
“On clay, the only thing I’m worried about with Jannick is his defending on the backhand side,” he said.
“It’s an open stance which Novak does. It’s very difficult to do that and get enough on the ball.
“So I think for him to play well on clay I think there needs to be a little bit of an adjustment in his going forwards backwards more than left to right.”
As for former world No.2 Chang, he sees no reason why Sinner can’t become a dominant force on clay like he is on a hardcourt. The American attended his fourth round match against Corentin Moutet which he had to win by coming back from a set down.
“There is no reason why he wouldn’t become a great clay court player,” he said.
“I watched him play (against Moutet) and I think he got outplayed in the first set. But if you watch that match the way that I did, you can see that Sinner is very mentally tough. He analyzes the situation, doesn’t count himself out and continues to plug away.”
“I think his coaching staff has done a phenomenal job. To bring Darren Cahill on his team has been very good for him.”
Regarding Alcaraz, the American believes his rivalry with Sinner is likely to stand out in the coming years. They have already played against each other eight times with their head-to-head split at 4-4.
“This is probably going to be one of the great rivalries to watch over the next 10 years. There is going to be a lot of great rivalries with a lot of great players but I think Alcaraz and Sinner are the ones people are going to take note of.”He concluded.
Wilander – ‘I didn’t like being No.1’
Embed from Getty ImagesDepending on how top seed Novak Djokovic fairs in Paris amid new concerns about a knee injury, Sinner is in contention for claiming the PIF ATP No.1 ranking. Should he do so he would become the first Italian to achieve this milestone since the system was introduced in 1973.
Wilander held the top spot for 20 weeks between 1988 and 1989. Reaching the pinnacle of the standings is an achievement many players dream of but for the Swede, it was a somewhat different experience.
“I was number one because I felt I was better than everybody after the US Open,” he recounted.
“Then I went to one more tournament in Palermo and I didn’t like being number one. I’m not sure what happened.
“I think it depends on when you become number one, and under what circumstances. For me it happened to be we played a match from number one, I’d never won the US Open and then bang, number one, and now we have four months off before the Australian Open pretty much. It didn’t motivate me.”
Despite his frank admission about his career, he doesn’t foresee Sinner being in a similar scenario.
“I think for Jannik he’s young enough, where he can lose and maybe feel the pressure to lose some motivation. But then he has enough time to turn around, maybe six months, that might not be good.” Wilander said.
“It’s not a warning. Number one in the world, It’s amazing. He’s (Sinner) gonna be number one many, many, many, many, many, many times in my eyes.”
