Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz? Former world No 2 reveals who he prefers
Former world No 2 Tommy Haas has analysed what makes Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner different as he revealed his “favourite player right now.”
Alcaraz and Sinner won nine consecutive Grand Slams between them from the 2024 Australian Open to the 2026 Australian Open, with the Spaniard securing five and the Italian claiming four.
This streak ended at the 2026 French Open, where Alexander Zverev triumphed to lift his maiden Grand Slam trophy.
Sinner is the current world No 1, while Alcaraz — who has not played since April due to a wrist injury — is ranked second.
Speaking on the Behind the Athletes podcast, Haas was asked what sets Sinner and Alcaraz apart from other players.
“For me, it’s always exceptional to see when they come to Indian Wells, I always go courtside, and I just sometimes love to keep my eyes on the player that I’m watching, and not watch where the ball goes, but just kind of see their reaction, see their footwork, see their anticipation, and then the focus and the desire to win,” Haas said.
“And you can tell a lot from that. And when you watch these two players, Alcaraz and Sinner, it’s special. I always say, until you have not seen tennis played in person or live, because tennis on TV sometimes doesn’t do it justice, with the height of the ball, with the spin of the ball, the different speeds.
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“When you’re able to sit courtside and see what they do and how fast they react, and how powerful they play these days, it’s truly something incredible.
“Alcaraz is probably my favourite player right now, because he can do it all. He brings in the finesse, he can play defense with the backhand slice, he can change it up with the drop shot. You don’t know if the forehand is coming in at 115 miles and hour, is it 90 miles an hour, lots of spin, flat?
“Is he hitting the drop shot? Is he staying behind the baseline for the second serve? Is he attacking it? Is he coming in? Serve and volleying? It’s phenomenal to watch.
“And Sinner — you know what you’re going to get. You know that as soon as he has an opportunity to dictate play, he’s gonna dictate play, and he’s just gonna crush it, and find the level of placement. The placement of where the balls are going, the depth.”
Haas, a winner of 15 ATP Tour titles, continued: “They have all the shots. You can always improve on certain areas, I think Jannik can still improve coming in, finishing the point at the net. I think he’s also put in that drop shot a little bit more, that finesse shot.
“When they are playing at the top level, especially Jannik, he seems to find certain zones where he doesn’t miss with that sort of speed of the ball, and control, and hugging the baseline on both sides, and you can’t get by him.”
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