Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have praised each other’s improvements as they meet in a third consecutive Grand Slam final at the US Open.
It’s the dream final on Sunday. The two best players in the world will contest a third consecutive Grand Slam final when Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner meet in New York.
Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-6(4) 6-2 to reach his second US Open final where he will challenge Sinner for the world number one ranking.
Another dominant result means Alcaraz still hasn’t dropped a set at this year’s tournament and after the match was happy with his consistency in New York but gave a warning to Sinner that his best is yet to come. “It’s something that I’m working on, just the consistency on the matches, on the tournaments, on the year in general,” the Spaniard stated in his press conference.
“Just not having up-and-downs in the match. Just the level that I start the match, just wanted to keep that level really high during the whole match. So I’m thinking I’m doing that in this tournament, which I’m really proud about.
“Yeah, let’s see. But, yeah, probably I’m just getting mature. I just getting to know myself much better, what I need on, off the court. The things that I’m doing off the court I think I’m doing really, really well, which help a lot, and to play my best tennis. I think it’s getting better.”
Alcaraz will face Sinner in Sunday’s blockbuster showdown after the world number one overcame a slight injury concern and Felix Auger-Aliassime in four sets to reach the final.
Ahead of the final Sinner has now won 27 hard court Grand Slam matches in a row and the Italian spoke about the impressive nature of the stat while also looking ahead to another Grand Slam final with Alcaraz, “Well, amazing stats. You know, I would have never thought that I would make this when I turned pro, and now I find myself here,” the Italian explained after his late night win.
“So it’s amazing. I think, you know, five straight Grand Slam finals, it’s something great. The consistency and putting myself there in the later stages of the biggest tournaments we have, it’s amazing, no.
“But in the same time, I know it’s in the back of my head, whatever I’m doing, but in the same time whatever is done is done. I’m here. I have a very important day Sunday, and then we see.”
The duo’s rivalry keeps expanding and after two entertaining Grand Slam finals, they meet for a third time on the biggest stage.
After knowing each other so well, they commented on each other’s progress and what their improvements have been this year and this is what they concluded:
- Carlos Alcaraz: I think he, in the way– I think physically he has improved a lot, and that’s obviously. I mean, it wasn’t a secret. He has spoken about the physical conditions that he has to improve, and I think the last year, the last two years, he has improved a lot physically. You know, his matches are really demanding physically that he’s able to play at his 100% during two, three, four hours, and I think that’s the biggest improvement he has made in
the last years. - Jannik Sinner: He has improved a lot the serve. I feel like he’s serving much better with the better pace, but the percentage is very high all the time. Much more solid, you know, for example, because maybe before there were more ups and downs. Now he’s very consistent. Also, if you watch all the tournaments, he’s going very, very far. So many, many improvements, you know. But I always say that when you are young, you know, one year or two years, they make big difference.
Sunday will be their second meeting at the US Open and in their previous meeting Alcaraz won a five set epic that lasted into the early hours of the morning.
Whoever wins the title will not only be US Open champion but will be world number one on Monday.
