Sinner on Alcaraz rivalry: “I think at the moment he’s still a better player”

Jannik Sinner says he still has a way to go before he can consider himself a worthy rival to Carlos Alcaraz. He explained himself to reporters in Beijing.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, Indian Wells 2023 | © Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic

Chris Oddo

September 29, 2023

This week, Jannik Sinner will kick off his first Asian swing with high hopes as he closes in on a berth at this year’s Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The 22-year-old, who faces Great Britain’s Dan Evans in first-round action in a stacked China Open draw, could potentially face Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals.

The Italian has split six previous meetings with the two-time major champion, but the world No 7 doesn’t yet believe that he deserves a seat at the table when it comes to the precocious Spaniard.

Tennis Majors

Sinner was asked about Alcaraz in his pre-tournament press conference and expressed the belief that he needs to put in a lot of work before he can be the Spaniard’s main rival.

“At the moment it’s tough to talk about this rivalry,” Sinner said. “I feel like, because he has won so many things at the moment, I think at the moment he’s still a better player. He has shown this… he was number one in the world already a couple of times and I think at the moment the biggest rivalry is him and Novak.

“For sure every time when we play against each other, it’s a really good match, and I think we both bring the best out of ourselves, but at the moment I’m very focused about myself. It’s gonna be a question that will be answered in the future, no? I will be happy to be the rival of Carlos for sure, and I feel like I have the potential to do it, But let’s see. It’s all about the future.”

Jannik Sinner trophy Toronto — Zuma/Panoramic

Sinner’s wish – continue developing and be even better in 2024

Sinner, whose record sits at 44-13 on the year with two titles, including his maiden Masters 1000 triumph in Toronto, has an eye of evolving his game before the end of season.

He says all starts with strength and conditioning.

“I have to improve, also physically now, because I feel like I have a lot of potential physically,” he said. “And that’s also the reason why I played much less tournaments this year compared to last year, because I have to prepare the body to win the big tournaments.”

In addition to building his strength so that he may cope better with the grind of Grand Slam tournaments, Sinner also wants to make subtle changes to his attack.

“We have other other goals from now on, because we nearly reached our goal to go to Turin,” he said. “So we will try to take this last part of the season as trying to improve, trying a couple of new things on court, and making a couple of things happen already for next year, so next year, I can hopefully start in a very good way but we are all at the moment very relaxed.

“For sure, trying to improve also a little bit in the rankings, which is important also for the grand slams. But as I said, I don’t want to take a lot of pressure – I don’t have many points to defend from now until the end of the year.

“Game wise we would like to improve now, trying to push a little bit more forward, trying to go to the net, making a couple of more drop shots – changing up the game a little bit so that it feels more natural. That’s our goal for the last step of the season. If I’m able to make this move, then next year in the beginning will be a little bit easier for me.”