Carlos Alcaraz has gone against Jannik Sinner’s recent remarks as he shared his “dream” to have a Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal-style rivalry with the Italian. It comes after Sinner claimed that he didn’t believe he was a true rival for Alcaraz yet, instead stating that the Spaniard’s competition with Novak Djokovic was much better. But Alcaraz shut his comments down and explained why it was “different” facing Sinner.
Alcaraz recently suffered a defeat to Sinner in their China Open semi-final match. It was the seventh meeting between the pair and allowed the 22-year-old to become the first player on tour to defeat the Spaniard at least four times.
The world No 2 is now hoping that they continue to have a rivalry for the ages, sharing his wish to emulate what Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic have achieved through years of thrilling showdowns. “Well, honestly, it could be great if it’s like Rafa and Roger,” Alcaraz told Tennis TV, addressing his competition with Sinner.
“It would be the dream of ourselves and of course from the tennis fans I think. But I don’t know. Rafa and Roger, Roger and Djokovic, Djokovic and Rafa, whatever it is.” The two-time Grand Slam champion already through that they had formed a strong rivalry as he explained why it was different facing Sinner compared to anyone else on tour.
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Alcaraz added: “Well we have a good rivalry honestly. I’m a guy who doesn’t want to lose in every match but obviously against him, as I said, it’s different. I feel different. So every time that I beat him or I lose against him is kind of different for me. But it’s something that I learn from every match that we’ve played against each other.”
The 20-year-old’s comments go against something Sinner himself said recently, as the nine-time title winner downplayed his rivalry with Alcaraz and said he couldn’t be compared to the Spaniard. “Look, at the moment it’s tough to talk about this rivalry because I feel he has won so many things at the moment,” the world No 4 said ahead of the China Open.
Sinner also put the spotlight on Alcaraz’s rivalry with Djokovic, which has seen the pair contest three exciting matches this year at the French Open, Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Open. Sinner added: “I think at the moment he’s still a better player, no?
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“He has shown this. He was No 1 in the world already couple of times. I think at the moment the biggest rivalry is him and Novak. But in the other way, for sure every time when we play against, it’s a really good match. I think we both show the best out of ourselves.”
Sinner did manage to show the best of himself against Alcaraz in Beijing. And the world No 4 could come around to talks about their rivalry after taking the lead in their head-to-head, backing it up by defeating Daniil Medvedev a day later to win the title.
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