Has Jannik Sinner\u2019s current absence from the ATP Tour helped fuel recent criticism of Carlos Alcaraz?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the verdict of former world No 6 Gilles Simon, who believes the lack of a \u201cmore consistent\u201d\u00a0Sinner<\/a> over the past two months has increased speculation surrounding\u00a0Alcaraz\u2019s<\/a> form.<\/p>\n Over the past 15 months, Sinner and Alcaraz have widely been hailed as the leading stars of a new era of tennis, following in the footsteps of the \u2018Big Three\u2019 and Andy Murray.<\/p>\n Both men won two Grand Slam titles in 2024, though it was Sinner who finished the year as the world No 1 ahead of world No 3 Alcaraz \u2013 winning eight total titles compared to the Spaniard\u2019s four.<\/p>\n With the Italian serving a three-month suspension, which began in February and will not end until early May, many backed Alcaraz to reclaim the No 1 ranking he had previously held for 36 weeks.<\/p>\n However, since his rival\u2019s ban, the Spaniard has not won a title, losing in the Qatar Open quarter-final, Indian Wells semi-final, and in his opening match at the Miami Open.<\/p>\n Alcaraz will look to return to form at the Monte Carlo Masters and, ahead of the tournament, admitted he was frustrated at recent criticism directed his way.<\/p>\n Speaking to Tennis365, Simon claimed Alcaraz was facing heavier criticism as his results were under stronger scrutiny without Sinner \u2013 something that rarely emerged during the \u2018Big Three\u2019 and Murray era.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m from a generation where the top players were able to win every week \u2013 but there were four, which means there were not all four winning at the same time,\u201d said the 14-time ATP titleist.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it was one at the top winning everything, and the other ones were not winning. As we were sometimes seeing them as a group, we felt that they were always there.<\/p>\n Novak Djokovic learns his first Monte Carlo Masters opponent \u2013 and he will be out for revenge<\/a><\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz makes candid confession about pressure of chasing world No 1 Jannik Sinner<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cToday, the two players that could be in this way are Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Jannik is more consistent, and this is why he is at this ranking, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s a better tennis player \u2013 I just think he\u2019s more consistent.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ranking is over one year, and he doesn\u2019t have these up and downs that Carlos can have. We all know if they play at their highest level, both of them, we are not sure that Jannik is going to win.<\/p>\n \u201cCarlos is a bit more up and down. Jannik is not here at the moment, so if Carlos is a bit down, we feel like he disappeared or it\u2019s a big mess or like the tour looks like nothing, and it\u2019s a different winner every week.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the end, I think it was just a bad habit that we had with Roger, Rafa, and Novak being there, but also being four of them, when one had an accident like Carlos can have.\u201d<\/p>\n Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and\u00a0 Novak Djokovic defined an era of tennis and dominated the men\u2019s game for the best part of two decades.<\/p>\n However, it was not always the case that there was an established \u2018Big Three\u2019, with Federer \u2013 the oldest of the trio \u2013 the first to break through and dominate the sport.<\/p>\n While Federer was dominant throughout large parts of the mid-2000s, there were times when the Swiss\u2019 results were under significant scrutiny.<\/p>\n And Simon recalled the 20-time Grand Slam champion being beaten by Guillermo Canas in both Indian Wells and Miami in 2007, claiming the Swiss faced a similar level of criticism as Alcaraz currently is.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThe first time I came in Indian Wells and Miami, Roger lost to Canas twice, and it was a big deal because he was the only one at that time. The other ones [Nadal and Djokovic] were not there yet.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it happens five years later, same thing, he would lose \u2013 but then we still have Rafa and Novak in the final, and everyone forgets.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is where I feel like we can see that only two players are currently carrying the tour, or get this huge attention and focus on them.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s [Alcaraz] a top player, he\u2019s won four Slams, he\u2019s 21 years old, he\u2019s achieving crazy things, and sometimes it\u2019s just human that you are not going to win everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon was speaking in his role as an ambassador and team captain for the 2025 Roland-Garros eSeries by Renault.<\/em><\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>:\u00a0Exclusive: How Roland-Garros eSeries is bringing tennis to a new audience<\/a><\/p>\n The post Exclusive: Has \u2018more consistent\u2019 Jannik Sinner\u2019s absence fuelled Carlos Alcaraz criticism?<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Has Jannik Sinner\u2019s current absence from the ATP Tour helped fuel recent criticism of Carlos Alcaraz? That\u2019s the verdict of former world No 6 Gilles Simon, who believes the lack of a \u201cmore consistent\u201d\u00a0Sinner over the past two months has increased speculation surrounding\u00a0Alcaraz\u2019s form. Over the past 15 months, Sinner and Alcaraz have widely been […]<\/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-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","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=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ATP Tour News<\/h2>\n