Jannik Sinner’s ridiculous serve statistic against Alexander Zverev shows ‘we need Carlos Alclaraz’
Tennis needs Carlos Alcaraz to return to provide Jannik Sinner a challenge, according to Andy Roddick with the former world No 1 highlighting one mind-blowing statistic that proves the Italian’s dominance over the chasing pack.
Sinner successfully defended his Wimbledon title as he bounced back from losing the opening set against Alexander Zverev to secure a 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-4 victory to lift his sixth trophy of the year.
With the win, the Italian extended his head-to-head record against Zverev to 11-4 with 10 of those wins coming in the last 10 matches.
Yet that is not the most impressive statistic that Roddick focused on as the American drew attention to Sinner’s phenomenal serve record against Zverev as he has now held 87 consecutive service games against the German.
The last time Zverev managed to break Sinner’s serve was in October 2025 in the Vienna Open final.
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“He has held 87 consecutive times against Sascha Zverev. I don’t care if you hold 87 times against your cat, it doesn’t make sense. Eighty-seven consecutive times he has held serve against Zverev,” the former world No 1 said on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast.
“How’s this, finals weekend he doesn’t get broken against the greatest returner of all time, Novak Djokovic, doesn’t get broken against Sascha Zverev. Faces two break points, one in each match.
“That’s its own form of dominance.”
Sinner won five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles in the lead-up to the French Open before suffering a shock second-round loss to Juan Manual Cerundolo at Roland Garros and that has been his only defeat in the past three months.
“He’s entering the portion of his career where we judge him against his own shadow and we nitpick and you know he’s lost one match in his last 40 matches and we’re going to talk about that for a month and rightfully so,” Roddick said.
“We expected him to win Roland Garros and you know he’s up and it’s like a collapse so sure we’re allowed to talk about it and you know he’s not letting it define him.”
Sinner’s dominant run has coincided with Alcaraz’s absence as the seven-time Grand Slam winner has been sidelined since the beginning of April and Roddick says the sport needs the Spaniard.
“We miss Carlos Alcaraz. We want the foil, hopefully he’s better,” he said.
“This Sinner story is just better with Alcaraz in the mix and the Alcaraz story obviously with Sinner as well.”
But even if Alcaraz does return for the North American hard-court swing, Sinner will still be the man to beat at the US Open.
Roddick added: “As we project forward [for the US Open], Sinner has to be just an overwhelming favourite in New York, even if Alcaraz comes back, are the legs there, you need match wraps, it’s not as if he re-enters the building and all of a sudden he is the best version of Carlos Alcaraz.”
