How Sinner, Alcaraz separated themselves from the pack at the Grand Slams in 2024
Sharing all four majors in 2024, the Italian and Spaniard are bouncing off each other as they look to dominate
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, 2024 | ©
With two wins apiece, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have separated themselves from the pack in 2024, at least when it comes to the Grand Slams.
Sinner’s accession to the Grand Slam winners’ circle in Australia was cemented by his performance at the US Open, where he doubled his tally, despite the off-court issues he was dealing with in the wake of his positive drugs tests – for which he was cleared of any wrongdoing and escaped a ban.
In between, Alcaraz overcame a niggling forearm injury to win the French Open and then backed it up by winning Wimbledon for the second year in a row, again beating Novak Djokovic in the final, to take his career tally to four.
And while Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz all made a slam final, alongside Djokovic (who made one despite having knee surgery during the French Open), there’s no question that some daylight has been put between the top two and the rest.
Sinner’s improved serve
It took a lot of courage, and belief in his coaches, for Jannik Sinner to agree to make some adjustments to his service motion, perhaps the hardest thing to do once you’re established in the game. But under the guidance of Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi, Sinner worked enormously hard to make some tweaks, and they clearly paid off, anecdotally and statistically.
“The biggest improvement by far is his serve,” Fritz said after the US Open final. “I played him last year in Indian Wells, and he had already improved his serve (then). He was very, very good at that point, and he had just kind of been injured, pulled out of a lot of tournaments when he was already deep into it. At that time he was ranked outside the top 10 maybe.
“He’s improved now with confidence and winning, but I think he was very close to the level at that point, he just had yet to show all of the results. Because after that, he lost to Carlos that week, won Miami the next week, was unbelievable all last year and starting this year, as well. I think that was kind of, like, the start of it.”
The stats back up Fritz’s eye. At the US Open, he won 80 percent of points when landing his first serve. Across the season on the ATP Tour, he’s fifth overall in that category, winning 78.5 percent and according to Tennis Abstract, 31 percent of his serves were unreturned over the past 52 weeks, compared to his career average of 28 percent.
At the US Open, he saved 26 of the 39 break points he faced (11 of them coming in his first-round match) while in Melbourne, he was even less generous, saving 34 of the 40 break points he faced. Being strong in the biggest moments is key for every player and Sinner was clutch throughout.
Moreover, he has also been brilliant on second serve, winning 57 percent of points with it, the best of any player on the ATP Tour in the past 52 weeks.
Alcaraz’s outstanding return stats
Carlos Alcaraz may not feature near the very top of the serving stats but when it comes to his return game, he’s right there. His ability to put his opponents under pressure, right from the off, suffocates them to the point where he wins so many return games that at times, he’s almost impossible to beat.
Over the past 52 weeks, the Spaniard has won 34.2 percent of points on his opponents’ first serves, putting him second overall. He’s been just as good against the second serve, winning 55.6 percent of points, again making him second on the ATP Tour. He’s also third in return games won, at 31.2 percent.
As he recovered full fitness after a forearm injury, Alcaraz was holding back a lot on his forehand in the early stages at Roland-Garros, but he won 47 points on return, and hit more winners than any other player, at 278, across his seven matches.
Even on grass, he was equally effective on return, winning 42 percent of points when Djokovic was serving in the final. (Djokovic, by contrast, won 29 percent).
Sinner’s tiebreak record
When you’re clutch, you’re also going to have a good tiebreak record and that has certainly been the case for Jannik Sinner in 2024, with the Italian winning 13 of his past 15 tiebreaks. The biggest servers usually (not always) have good tiebreak records and in 2024, Sinner has really stepped things up in that department, winning 76 percent of his tiebreaks (19-6), good enough to be fourth overall.
That’s a massive improvement from previous years. In 2023, he managed 54.8 percent. He actually won 69.6 percent of them in 2022, but was back down at 60 percent in 2021. Winning more than 75 percent of his breakers in 2024 has been a big part of him managing his matches. He’s also lost just two in the four slams this year, too.
Rivalry pushing each other on
Whenever Sinner and Alcaraz set foot on the same court, they seem to bring out the best in each other, like all great rivalries seem to do. The pair have already produced several classics and when one of them wins a big title, the other one seems to be even more determined to win the next.
And their willingness to work, to believe that there is always something more that can be done, is also key. As Sinner said, after the US Open: “I still believe Carlos is one step ahead of me. He’s been No 1 already, winning four Grand Slams already, he’s an amazing player, physically he is stronger than me. Tactically he has more options but this is what I want to have, someone who pushes me to get better. And hopefully I can do the same with him.”
Siner stressed that it’s not just he and Alcaraz, but in terms of the slams in 2024, it definitely has been.
