Carlos Alcaraz makes brutally honest confession after Jannik Sinner humbling
Carlos Alcaraz has been hailed as the next big star of the men’s game, but it appears he may have met his match in Jannik Sinner.
Italian big hitter Sinner moved one clear in his head-to-head matches with Carlos Alcaraz after dumping the top seed out of the China Open in the semi-finals.
The pair had shared their opening six matches, including a US Open quarter-final that was arguably the best contest of last year.
The first set in Beijing featured a succession of brilliant, hard-hitting rallies, with 22-year-old Italian Sinner twice coming from a break down to take it on a tie-break.
And Alcaraz, 20, was unable to match his young rival in the second set, the errors beginning to flow in a 7-6 (4) 6-1 victory for Sinner.
Sinner now leads Alcaraz 4-3 in a new rivalry that is set to play a big part in tennis narrative over the next decade, with the Italian threatening to take the upper hand.
The manner of his victory in the second set left the impression that Alcaraz had run out of ideas against Sinner and his post-match comments suggested he needed to find a new solution against an opponent who constantly challenges his authority on the court.
“Against players like Jannik, if you don’t take advantage of those opportunities, it’s harder to win or stay ahead on the scoreboard,” he said.
“Obviously he also played a great level of tennis, it forced me to change my game a little bit. I couldn’t do what I always did. I tried to play deeper, but I couldn’t.
“I tried to play with another tactic, but it didn’t go well in that part either. This is another thing I’ll have to learn if I want to beat Jannik.”
The variety Alcaraz plays with was diluted by Sinner, with his eagerness to throw drop shots into a rally to change the direction of the point not as effective against this opponent.
His comments also suggest his backup plans failed to have an impact, which will be music to Sinner’s ears when he next plays Alcaraz.
The Spaniard then admitted the pressure Sinner applied to him changed his mentality during the match, as he made this brutally honest confession.
READ MORE: Jannik Sinner exposes Carlos Alcaraz’s big weakness with a stunning win in China
“In the second set I was mentally out,” he admitted.
“I was complaining too much, something that really makes it difficult for you to play at your best level. This is what happened.
“He is a very complete player, he did almost everything well, he pushes you to the limit with every shot.
“You have to hit every ball perfectly if you want to be alive in the point. Even if you think you hit the ball very well, he can even return it harder than you. This is something he does really well, very well.
“The rest of it is also amazing & his serve is very good. It’s really difficult to play against him. I think his mobility is also very good. You have to find a way to beat him… It is complicated, that is why he is one of the best in the world.”
Alcaraz was giving an insight into how Sinner broke him down and beat him for a fourth time and while his comments revealed a rare sign of weakness, only a player of Sinner’s relentless quality and consistency could execute a gameplan of this nature to take the racket out of the Wimbledon’s champions hand and control the points.
Outhitting Alcaraz from the back of the court is an impossible task for most players, but Sinner seems to have the skill and raw power to pull it off.
Novak Djokovic may still be the man to beat at the top of the men’s game, but we are likely to see a lot of Alcaraz v Sinner matches in the years to come and the latest evidence suggests it is the Italian who has the upper hand.
