‘Carlos Alcaraz still has a lot of areas he can improve – Jannik Sinner has absolutely closed the gap’
Tim Henman believes that Jannik Sinner has “absolutely closed the gap” on his young rival Carlos Alcaraz with the way the Italian performed at the end of the 2023 season.
The former world No 4 has declared that Alcaraz has an “amazing all-round game” but feels he has “still got a lot of areas that he can improve on” because of his age.
Alcaraz, who turned 20 in May, has already won two Grand Slam titles with his victories at the 2022 US Open and this year’s Wimbledon Championships.
The Spaniard became the youngest player to be ranked world No 1 in the ATP Rankings following his triumph at Flushing Meadows last year, which came four months after his 19th birthday.
The current world No 2 followed up a superb 2022 season with a career-best campaign in 2023, during which he claimed ATP six titles and and won 65 of his 77 matches (84.4%).
Sinner also had the finest season of his career to date in 2023 as he claimed four ATP titles, posted a 64-15 (81%) record and finished at a career-high ranking of world No 4.
Henman, a six-time Grand Slam semi-finalist, analysed Alcaraz’s 2023 campaign and discussed the Spaniard’s rivalries with Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune.
“I mean, Alcaraz had an amazing year, winning his first Wimbledon title. He missed the early part of the year and he still finished No 2 in the world. He was still in the race to finish No 1 at the end of the year,” the Brit told Eurosport.
“He’s still so young. He’s still learning. You reflect on what happened at Roland Garros in the semi-finals, where after two sets, he suddenly got a terrible cramp. And I’m sure that was from the sort of nervous tension that went with playing that match against Djokovic.
“So, he’s still got a lot of areas that he can improve on. He’s got amazing all-round game, the versatility, but he’s still so young. He’s another one that just embraces challenges and he loves the competition.
“He has an element of a rivalry against Djokovic because they’re completely different eras, but also, I think [he’s] almost closer to [Jannik] Sinner and [Holger] Rune. Those are three guys that I think are going to play each other an enormous amount in the biggest and best tournaments. And that’s so important for our sport.
“We love those rivalries. It looks like when Sinner and Alcaraz have played, they’ve had incredible matches. They are different personalities. They’ve got similar games. I think Alcaraz has got a little bit more versatility, but in terms of ball striking and power from the back of the court, Sinner is phenomenal.
“I felt that Alcaraz was definitely a good step ahead of Sinner but the way Sinner played at the end of last year, I think Sinner has absolutely closed the gap.”
