Carlos Alcaraz has admitted he is excited about his rivalry with Jannik Sinner but refused to compare it with great rivalries of the past.
The Spaniard enters his Roland Garros title defence in good form having won Masters 1000 titles in Monte-Carlo and Rome.
In Rome Alcaraz defeated Sinner to claim the title and a psychological advantage ahead of their potential showdown at Roland Garros.
Reflecting on his rivalry with Sinner the world number two said he is excited about his rivalry with the Italian but dismissed talk of matching up with some of the most iconic rivalries in tennis, “Right now I think the people are excited every time that I’m facing Jannik. Our matches I think is really high quality of tennis,” Alcaraz stated in his press conference.
“I think for the people and probably the people who doesn’t like watching tennis, I think is something or a match that because of that has started to watch tennis. Well, I’m not gonna put myself or the great rivalry that I have with Jannik at some level that those legends. But I think for the people, for the tennis fans, I think it’s great to have a matchup from some players that made them excited about watch that match. As you said, it was Borg-McEnroe, Rafa-Roger or Djokovic, the big three against each other.
“Let’s see in the future how it’s gonna be. Right now for sure I’m not going to put ourselves into that table of that rivalries, but I think for the people are excited about watching our matches.”
The earliest Alcaraz and Sinner can meet is in the final with both players having to get through testing matches before thinking about that blockbuster showdown.
However it’s not only Sinner that Alcaraz is excited about as he reflected on the state of the top ten and believes it’s an exciting time for the ATP tour, “I think so. I think in general, the top 20, 25, 30, they have really high level of tennis,” Alcaraz explained.
“We could see it right now, for example, Mensik is 20, 21, and he won Miami. That means how strong is the top 30 right now. I saw Sascha talked about it, because probably, like, 10 years ago, the top 10 was much stronger than now, could be, but in general, the top 30 I think right now is really, really strong.
“As I said, right now we have a really open draw that everyone can make really good results or even win the tournament, so I think that’s really good for tennis.”
Alcaraz will play Giulio Zeppieri in his first round match on Monday.
