The battle between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz could dominate the men’s game for the next decade and former world No 1 Mats Wilander has come up with an interesting theory on who will ultimately end up on top in their battle.
Alcaraz currently leads his head-to-head battles with Sinner 7-4 after his latest win in the Rome Masters final earlier this month.
The 22-year-old Spaniard is the only player on the ATP Tour who can consistently trouble big-hitting Sinner and now Wilander has told Tennis365 that he expected Alcaraz to win more Grand Slam titles than his great rival.
Yet he suggests Sinner’s consistency less complicated game may allow him to finish his career with other titles that will cement his greatness.
Speaking to Tennis365 in his role as an analyst for TNT Sports at Roland Garros, Wilander served up a novel theory on how this great sporting rivalry will play out.
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“The way I see it is I expect Carlos Alcaraz to win more Grand Slam titles than Jannik Sinner, but I expect Sinner to spend more weeks as world No 1,” Wilander told Tennis365, speaking in the broadcast centre at Roland Garros.
“The reason I say this is Alcaraz is such a complete player and he has so many options every time he plays a shot.
“I remember Roger Federer saying, ‘yeah, of course Lleyton Hewitt will have more success than me to start with, because he is one-dimensional compared to me and doesn’t have all the shots’. Carlos is like that.
“This is why Jannik is ranked No 1 in the world because he doesn’t have so much variety and therefore he is more consistent. It’s more of a straightforward game for Jannik.”
When we asked Wilander to give his verdict on who will finish up with more Grand Slam titles, Wilander gave us an intriguing take on how it will play out.
“My prediction is that Sinner will spend more time as world No 1 than Carlos Alcaraz and Carlos will win more majors. That’s my prediction,” stated Wilander.
Mats Wilander on TNT Sports at Roland Garros
“I say that because Carlos is a little more up and down and when he is at his best, he has proved he can beat Jannik and anyone else.
“This could change because Carlos has only just turned 22 and we can see that he is already adding more consistency to his game.
“We saw last year that he was down two sets to one to Sinner and the same against Sascha Zverev in the final and he locked in and found a way to win.
“He’s got it in him, but when he takes on lesser players, he goes walkabout for five or ten minutes mentally and suddenly he is playing a close match against someone he shouldn’t play a close match with.
“Sinner doesn’t do that. Is that going to hurt Carlos on a Grand Slam? Possibly.
“If he is out there playing a long match against someone he should beat easily, that might take something out of him if he has an opponent like Sinner a couple of days later.
“Both of them are now at the top of the game and everything has gone so fast for them over the last 24 months.
“They have been winning majors, getting to world No 1, starting a new era in tennis in many ways.
“It’s really hard to predict what will come next, but we can say that the versions of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in 2030 will be much better than what we see today… and that is a scary thought.”
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