Jannik Sinner has “made a lot of progress” following his recent struggles against Carlos Alcaraz, but the world No 1 has been told that his victory over the Spaniard at the Six Kings Slam is “worthless” by an Italian great.
Alcaraz has taken a dominant 10-5 lead in his head-to-head with his Italian rival as he has won seven of their last eight meetings – including this year’s French Open and US Open finals – with Sinner’s lone win coming at the showpiece match at Wimbledon.
After losing the season-ending Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows against the Spaniard, Sinner admitted that his game had become predictable, but vowed to get out of his comfort zone in order to find a winning formula against the 22-year-old.
In their first meeting since the US Open final, the two faced each other in the final of the Six Kings Slam and Sinner dominated as he won 6-2, 6-4 and earned a $6m payday as the winner received a cheque of $4.5m on top of an appearance fee of $1.5m.
The manner of the win will no doubt give the 24-year-old confidence ahead of future meetings with Alcaraz, but 1976 French Open winner Adriano Panatta says it is important not to read too much into the exhibition match.
Speaking on Domenica Sportiva, the Italian said: “I don’t want to be a contrarian, but these exhibitions have limited value, both technically and emotionally, because I’ve never seen Sinner smile so many times during a match.
“I’ve played plenty of performances like this when I was playing — and we’re talking about the last century — and I know how little they’re worth. Sinner, however, had an excellent match against Alcaraz; he served and played very well, much better than the Spaniard.”
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The former world No 4, though, was impressed with Sinner’s serve and also feels the four-time Grand Slam winner is “scary” when he hits top form.
“As for his serve, you can see he’s worked hard and made a lot of progress, but, I repeat, these matches are worthless. It’s a good sign to see Jannik so calm and in excellent health,” the 75-year-old said.
“I’ve seen him very solid, and it’s true that against him it feels like a ping-pong match; it’s scary when he plays like that. I would never have been able to play like he does. Jannik is a solid champion; he has a solidity I’ve never seen from anyone in the last 20 years.”
But Panatta feels Sinner will only know how much progress he has made when he meets Alcaraz in an official match.
He added: “Now I want to watch the matches against Alcaraz in Paris (indoors), if they go ahead, and especially at the ATP Finals: those will be real matches.”
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