{"id":2117,"date":"2026-04-30T19:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2117"},"modified":"2026-04-30T19:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:30:13","slug":"jannik-sinner-set-to-face-a-new-challenge-in-the-absence-of-carlos-alcaraz-claims-former-british-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2117","title":{"rendered":"Jannik Sinner set to face a new challenge in the absence of Carlos Alcaraz, claims former British No 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jannik Sinner<\/a> has been told that he will now face a whole new wave of pressure after his big rival Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> was ruled out of the upcoming Italian Open and the French Open.<\/p>\n

Sinner played Alcaraz inn the final of both the Rome tournament and at Roland Garros last year, with the Spaniard coming out on top on both occasions.<\/p>\n

Their final in Paris was one of the greatest tennis matches of all-time with Sinner failing to convert two match points in the fourth set before going on to lose a fifth set tie-breaker.<\/p>\n

There would have been an expectation that the \u2018Big 2\u2019 in men\u2019s tennis would meet again in this year\u2019s Roland Garros final, but Alcaraz\u2019s wrist injury has paused their rivalry for now.<\/p>\n

According to former British No 1 Greg Rusedski, Alcaraz\u2019s injury will ensure an even brighter light will be shone on Sinner, as he spoke on an upcoming edition of the Off Court with Greg Rusedski podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Italian Open withdrawals: Carlos Alcaraz leads list with doubts over Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu<\/a><\/p>\n

Jannik Sinner on course to break the ultimate rankings record in tennis as he has Novak Djokovic in his sights<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more pressure and expectation, because I\u2019m saying he\u2019s gonna win the French Open, he\u2019s gonna win Madrid, he\u2019s gonna win Rome, he should win everything he plays now,\u201d said Rusedski, in an exclusive podcast extract on Tennis365.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen imagine if Alcaraz doesn\u2019t show up to Wimbledon. Again, the pressure will be on. You should win everything, you should win everything. That\u2019s not easy to manage that expectation and pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, he\u2019s mentally tough, but all of a sudden you take away his biggest rival and everybody says you should win. The other players are looking like they\u2019re starting to step up as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, Jannik has been unbelievable. I\u2019ve been watching him this week. When he is challenged, Janik puts on the afterburners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve noticed this week is the use of the slice short sometimes to bring his opponents in, the willingness to come forward. And he just plays all the time the right shot. Even though he doesn\u2019t always execute it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminds me of Rafa. Rafa said this wonderful quote in 2019 when he was playing the US Open finals. He said that technically I can miss, but mentally I can\u2019t disappear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think from Rafa\u2019s point of view, that\u2019s what made him so strong. And also from the point of view of Jannik Sinner, that was also his main strength was between the ears. And that\u2019s what makes him so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Domination from one player is not always the best recipe for interest in any sport, but Rusedski does not believe a Sinner trophy clean sweep in the absence of Alcaraz will be bad for men\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it would be bad because it\u2019s history-making,\u201d added Rusedski. \u201cIf he wins everything on the board, he will have won all nine Master Series titles and all four Grand Slams if he wins in Paris. That would be amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s very few players that have done that in the history of our sport. So imagine he has all nine Masters and all four majors at such a young age.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Carlos Alcaraz: Latest injury rumours suggest a quick return may not be possible<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Jannik Sinner set to face a new challenge in the absence of Carlos Alcaraz, claims former British No 1<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jannik Sinner has been told that he will now face a whole new wave of pressure after his big rival Carlos Alcaraz was ruled out of the upcoming Italian Open and the French Open. Sinner played Alcaraz inn the final of both the Rome tournament and at Roland Garros last year, with the Spaniard coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}