Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner get cheeky warning from French ATP star
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have been sent a tongue-in-cheek warning by ATP rival Valentin Royer.
Seven-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz and four-time major champion Sinner have dominated men’s tennis the past two years as they have shared the last nine majors, each won four ATP Masters 1000 events and alternated at No 1 of the ATP Rankings.
The chasing pack have been well adrift with Novak Djokovic the best of the rest with the likes of Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Ben Shelton the other challengers.
Alcaraz took his unbeaten run to the start of 2026 to 9-0 as he followed up his maiden title at the Australian Open with wins over Arthur Rinderknech and Royer.
After beating Royer 6-2, 7-5, there was a nice exchange between the Spaniard and Frenchman at the net.
World No 60 Royer told Alcaraz: “I’ll come to [for] you and Jannik, don’t worry. Some day.”
The world No 1 replied: “I will wait for you, man.”
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The 24-year-old Frenchman certainly had his chances in the second set as he broke in game four and came out to serve for the set at 5-3, but the Spaniard broke back and, after holding serve, claimed another break before serving out the match.
When asked if he was worried, Alcaraz replied: “Obviously I had to be prepared for everything. There were some moments when I thought about a third set, I’m not going to lie, but obviously it was just a small place in my mind that was thinking that. The rest was working to find solutions, to find the right way again.
“I’m just really pleased and really happy I was able to find good rhythm again, and good tennis. It’s just about fighting. I know tennis. It’s just about one point, and sometimes it is really difficult to close out the set or the match. I just had to stay there, and I’m happy I turned it around and got the win in straight sets.”
Up next is the seventh seed Karen Khachanov in the quarter-final, and if he gets through that, he will face either fifth seed Andrey Rublev or Stefanos Tsitispas in the semi-final with Sinner a projected final opponent.
“Everyone thinks we should play in every final in every tournament, but that’s very difficult to achieve. There are many players who want to beat us,” Alcaraz said about a possible final against Sinner.
