Tim Henman believes defending champion Carlos Alcaraz is the favourite to win another title at Roland Garros on Sunday, even though his great rival Jannik Sinner has been the stand-out player of the tournament so far.
Sinner has been blowing his rivals away with displays of brutal ball striking and his 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 demolition of Jiri Lehecka in the third round was a masterclass that led many to suggest the world No 1 may be unbeatable in Paris.
Yet former British No 1 Henman suggests the Sinner mindset may change when he faces Alcaraz, who has beaten him in seven of their eleven meetings so far.
Speaking exclusively to Tennis365 at Roland Garros, TNT Sports analyst Henman believes the world No 2 has a record on clay courts that confirms he deserves to be the favourite to win another Grand Slam title in Paris.
“I think Carlos is the favourite,” Henman told Tennis365. “You look at the clay court tournaments he’s played and his results are impressive.
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“He won Monte Carlo, reached the final in Barcelona and he won in Rome, beating Sinner in straight sets in the final.
“He’s won here, defending champion, he’s playing well and the only issue for me with Alcaraz is these dips in focus he seems to have in matches occasionally.
“You can get away with that against the lower-ranked players and come back and find a way to win, but you can’t do that when you get to play the top players in the world and that’s the area Alcaraz needs to iron out of his game.
“When you are having these lapses of concentration in matches against the lower-ranked played, you are increasing the chances of them happening at the end of the tournament.
“So he needs to ingrain these good habits. If he has those dips against a player like Jannik Sinner in the final, Sinner will take advantage.
“When you compare him to Sinner, he doesn’t have those dips. He is relentless in his ball striking when you see his match against Jiri Lehecka, it was incredible.
“Lehecka is a good player, but he was struggling for points against Sinner, let alone games.
“Sinner is looking fantastic and while we know Alcaraz gives him different problems, Carlos needs to play at his best to beat him.”
Former world No 1 Mats Wilander also gave his verdict on the Sinner vs Alcaraz battle, as he revealed why the Spaniard takes the Italian out of his comfort zone more than any other player.
Tim Henman on TNT Sports
“The main reason why Sinner struggles against Alcaraz is he is so fast at doing everything,” Wilander told Tennis365 in his role as a TNT Sports analyst.
“The other reason Jannik doesn’t like playing against him he has a big forehand and that can knock you off balance.
“The big thing with Sinner is he strikes the ball so hard and also the way he can strike it early, without making too many mistakes.
“That is too much for a lot of people, but Alacarz is so quick that he can get to a lot of the balls other players cannot reach.
“When Sinner has a forehand and time to hit it, the other players have to guess left or right to have a chance to get it. Carlos doesn’t have that problem so much as he is super fast.
“I was in the front row watching their Rome final a few weeks back and for the first half an hour it looked like Alcaraz was struggling to hang with Sinner.
“Then he started to absorb the power coming at him and found a way to swing it in his favour.
“Okay, Sinner could have won the first set of that match and it could have been a different result, but you could see that Alcaraz was getting used to absorbing the pace and when he then got Jannik doing things he didn’t want to do, the match turned in his favour.”
Alcaraz and Sinner could serve up a blackbuster final in Paris on Sunday, but the new ‘Big 2’ in men’s tennis have plenty of hurdles to overcome before that mouth-watering clash is confirmed.
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READ MORE: Carlos Alcaraz seals stunning clay court record after latest Roland Garros win
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