i disagree... Carlos will be a double channel slam winner like Borg.... He will then be tired for rest of the year....
Why is Sinner having issues with Alcaraz?
- Thread starter Daniel Andrade
- Start date
Pheasant
Legend
Sinner’s #1 goal is to keep improving And he improved a lot this year, which is hard to believe. Sinner will learn from this match. Now granted, this could end up like a Rafa/Federer rivalry, which killed me as a Fed fan. But Fed still had a couple of good wins, once the rivalry was on his best surface(Wimbledon). Sinner needs to meet Alcaraz on a fast hard court(ATP finals, or USO/AO slam).
Here’s a sobering stat:
Since 2024, Sinner is:
0-5 vs Alcaraz
91-3 vs the rest of the field.
2006 Federer was
2-4 vs Rafa
90-1 vs the rest is the field
Djokovic_is_the_best#1
Bionic Poster
That is incredible but it shows that sinner has to overcome the alcaraz hurdle. As if alcaraz gets consistent on hard courts and all surfaces these will be in many finals. He has to find a way to turn the tables.
Subway Tennis
G.O.A.T.
My impression is that for the first time we saw Alcaraz find a more regular play pattern that he can rely on against Sinner on clay. That's the one area that makes me more nervois as a Sinner fan.
It's almost impossible to get Sinner off the baseline, but Alcaraz had a recurring play pattern of hard up the middle, hard crosscourt from his backhand side with extreme angle, then hard crosscourt from his forehand side, then your fourth ball is the chance to win the point with Sinner in an extreme recovery position. The second and third shots mentioned above would normally be opportunities to win the point for Alcaraz, but Sinner defends so well and is so aggressive from defensive positions that you have to build a point with 4-5 very aggressive balls.
This is the best I have ever seen Alcaraz play in terms of getting the balance right between being very aggeeasive, very patient and instead of getting overwhelmed by the shot selection options he had, it became an advantage against someone who "plays fast" in an absolutely devastating way like Sinner does.
As a Sinner fan, I'm so happy with the level he brought today. It's insane how much better he played in this final compared to Rome, and how he held up physically over 5 hours so soon after coming back. He also seemed to manage some cramps that he was getting in the fifth set without his game dropping off.
It's almost impossible to get Sinner off the baseline, but Alcaraz had a recurring play pattern of hard up the middle, hard crosscourt from his backhand side with extreme angle, then hard crosscourt from his forehand side, then your fourth ball is the chance to win the point with Sinner in an extreme recovery position. The second and third shots mentioned above would normally be opportunities to win the point for Alcaraz, but Sinner defends so well and is so aggressive from defensive positions that you have to build a point with 4-5 very aggressive balls.
This is the best I have ever seen Alcaraz play in terms of getting the balance right between being very aggeeasive, very patient and instead of getting overwhelmed by the shot selection options he had, it became an advantage against someone who "plays fast" in an absolutely devastating way like Sinner does.
As a Sinner fan, I'm so happy with the level he brought today. It's insane how much better he played in this final compared to Rome, and how he held up physically over 5 hours so soon after coming back. He also seemed to manage some cramps that he was getting in the fifth set without his game dropping off.
landcookie
Professional
Because peak ‘Raz > all
Pheasant
Legend
It’s what makes the sport interesting. And I can’t wait to see how much more that these two will improve. This really feels like a Federer/Nadal rivalry, except that Alcaraz has a stranglehold on 2 slam events instead of 1. But we shall see what happens. I have a feeling that Sinner will turn this rivalry around. But I could be wrong.
Racquet_smash
Hall of Fame
Because he is mentally inept against him. Forget about quality or whatever, you don't lose 3 times when you are 2 sets to 1 only because the other is better than you, otherwise you don't get into that situation to start with.
Subway Tennis
G.O.A.T.
Men's tennis feels alive again in a way that it hasnt since the Fedal era. Winning majors is again less about the relative weakness of your opponents and more about the relative strengths of the victor. Exciting times ahead!
Pheasant
Legend
I agree wholeheartedly. These are great and exciting times for tennis!
1HBHNation
Semi-Pro
The variety in his game. The athleticism. The net skills that he don't have. And also someone who can hit the ball as hard as he does. To name a few...
Difficult to see he's playing the wimby final this year. If he does face CA in the wimby final, I afraid a repeat of fed RG-wimby08. The mental scar will be there.
TheGoldenEra1990’s
Hall of Fame
I don't know but he better fix it quick. We saw what happened at Wimbledon 2008. That was basically Fed's swan song against Nadal and then it was irreparable from there. By the 2017 it was too late, Nadal made up too much ground in the records. If Alcaraz gets his HC game going, then Sinner is done
Eventually I think sinner would turn it, because CA is more injury prone, while sinner game more simpler but effective.
Finally a worthy final.
But another pov is, Rafa was damnn monster at RG. CA was borderline dead to reach the 2nd one.
I hope next edition musetti improves his fitness, he got decent dirt games to bother them both.
Rafa4LifeEver
G.O.A.T.
Flat power? Roflmao dude.
Sinner plays with more topspin on both his FH & BH than Alcaraz and most of the tour.
darthrafa
Hall of Fame
the future results will depend on two factors: whether sinner can improve his fitness to maintain his high tempo game and accurate placement whilst carlos can improve his serve not to let sinner dictate the flow of game, which makes carlos reactively use counter attack to win points (esp important in tie breaks)
that said, exactly i wrote earlier that sinner is highly likely to win more slams than 24, depending on any injuries preventing so, since as a more aggressive version of djoker, i dont see any players can match him on HC
that said, exactly i wrote earlier that sinner is highly likely to win more slams than 24, depending on any injuries preventing so, since as a more aggressive version of djoker, i dont see any players can match him on HC
MissileBackHand99
Professional
Why shouldn't he have problems with Carlitos?? Alcaraz is a terrific returner, isn't deterred by Sinner's powerful groundstrokes, and plays terrific defensive tennis. He also has a mindset that sets him apart from most everyone else....that he NEVER believes he's out of a match. Their Beijing Final.uu7u7uu
Pheasant
Legend
Alcaraz is a juggernaut. He has a few weapons that nobody else has. That is why he troubles Sinner. Here are a few things that Alcaraz does to hurt Sinner.
1. His blazing speed is incredible. Sinner was caught not getting into good court position a few times because he thought he had hit a winner. And against anybody else in the world, they would have been winners.
2. Alcaraz can blast lasers while on the run; turning defense into offense at the blink of an eye. He reminds me a lot of Nadal when he did that to peak Fed
3. Alcaraz can bash with Sinner. At one point early in the 3rd set, they showed the amount of 100+ FH hits that Sinneraz had. They were at 7 each! 7!!!
4. Alcaraz’s spinning FH was insane. He got a lot of incredible winners off of it.
5. Alcaraz’s variety. Nobody else has this much variety. Alcaraz lacks Sinner’s consistency. But when Alcaraz is clicking, he can beat you multiple ways, whether it’s charging the net, hitting exquisite droppers, or exchanging 100 mph bombs from the baseline.
That said, Sinner is still improving. He said that he was happy because he improved since last year. And that is a good sign for Sinner fans. Jannik is most concerned with improving his game. And more importantly, he recognizes that he has improved. I.e, this loss won’t scar him. He will learn from it. And he will continue to improve.
1. His blazing speed is incredible. Sinner was caught not getting into good court position a few times because he thought he had hit a winner. And against anybody else in the world, they would have been winners.
2. Alcaraz can blast lasers while on the run; turning defense into offense at the blink of an eye. He reminds me a lot of Nadal when he did that to peak Fed
3. Alcaraz can bash with Sinner. At one point early in the 3rd set, they showed the amount of 100+ FH hits that Sinneraz had. They were at 7 each! 7!!!
4. Alcaraz’s spinning FH was insane. He got a lot of incredible winners off of it.
5. Alcaraz’s variety. Nobody else has this much variety. Alcaraz lacks Sinner’s consistency. But when Alcaraz is clicking, he can beat you multiple ways, whether it’s charging the net, hitting exquisite droppers, or exchanging 100 mph bombs from the baseline.
That said, Sinner is still improving. He said that he was happy because he improved since last year. And that is a good sign for Sinner fans. Jannik is most concerned with improving his game. And more importantly, he recognizes that he has improved. I.e, this loss won’t scar him. He will learn from it. And he will continue to improve.
TheGoldenEra1990’s
Hall of Fame
All Sinner has to really do from a technical standpoint is improve his first serve. I don't know why he hasn't done this yet or brought in a coach to do so. To where it hardly breaks down at all. . . If his first serve is clicking, he wins the points more times than not against Carlos. Seems like every time Sinner was forced into a 2nd serve, the point was already lost.
Why is Sinner having issues with Alcaraz?
I don't really think he is "having issues with Alcaraz" but with clay. To my knowledge and the 5 seconds research, I see only one win in Umag 2022 that Sinner has had on clay with Alcaraz. The Italian even lost in Futures qualifying round against Carlos in 2019 on clay. Just look at this as a court surface that does not offer a parallel movement or ball bounces favorable to Jannik's game which gives Carlos the extra nano second or microscopic edge that can only be changed with more training and better strategizing.
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All three GS meetings went 5 sets and Sinner had match points in 2 of those matches. I think Sinner will win his share of matches against Carlitos in the future.
mental midget
Hall of Fame
great analysis. that inside-in fh, hitting behind him and getting it up high paid huge dividends....body blows, and very nadal!
JeMar
Legend
I’ve actually been thinking a lot about this today. I apologize for the wall of text, as I’m still processing my thoughts after this match.
I think the reason Alcaraz has success against Sinner boils down to 3 factors:
1. Alcaraz seems less rushed against Sinner than everyone else (even Novak right now) because he can create time for himself through his offense. He can go down the line as we well as he can go crosscourt, so Sinner has to float closer to the middle than he does against most other players. This results in Sinner hitting balls with less time because he has to cover more ground more often and gives Alcaraz a shot that’s coming in with less power and accuracy than most of the rest of the tour faces.
2. Alcaraz isn’t bothered as much by Sinner’s pace as other players are. Alcaraz's forehand has a longer backswing than his backhand, so it’s for Sinner to get errors going big against that shot. Buuut, that’s also a dodgy prospect because if Sinner doesn’t absolutely clock that shot because of what I talked about in #1, Alcaraz can redirect Sinner’s shot with just as much pace crosscourt (often with a great angle) or up the line with a relatively safe shot because he has just so much spin. Alcaraz got Sinner doing this several times during the match today. Sinner’s backhand is solidly better than Alcaraz’s, but the pace Sinner feeds Alcaraz makes Alcaraz’s backhand look great because he absolutely loves the pace Sinner gives him. Against other opponents, Sinner’s backhand is a 10/10, while Alcaraz’s is a 7, but against each other, Alcaraz’s backhand ends up being closer to a 9.
3. This didn’t come up as much today because Sinner didn’t let him, but Alcaraz’s variety is usually a deciding factor in their matches. Sinner is excellent at making his opponent’s side of the court seem really wide and his own very narrow because of how hard and close to the lines he hits the ball. He controls the center of the court better than anyone in the world right now. HOWEVER, Alcaraz takes Sinner off his rhythm because Alcaraz can play long deep loopy balls to push Sinner back, but he also has the best drop shot in the world, which Sinner has to respect. Sinner ends up playing in parts of the court that he doesn’t want to be on, which makes his shot selection and quality not quite as good as it is against everyone else. That said, Sinner was on fire for 95% of this match and had Alcaraz playing on his terms. I was convinced that Sinner would win this because Sinner was playing so good that he had Alcaraz playing the match on Sinner’s terms: power tennis from the back of the court. His power stifled Alcaraz’s variety for the vast majority of this match.
There's a really interesting dynamic in terms of their levels against the rest of the tour. Alcaraz can play anywhere between a 7 and a 10/10, while Sinner is almost always at a 9. However, when they play against each other, and especially down the stretch, Alcaraz has shown the ability to tap into his very best tennis, while Sinner stays at that 9.
I know that their last five matches have gone Alcaraz’s way, but I’m confident Sinner will get his share of big wins in the future too. He’s already started adding a drop shot. If he’s able to make that a reliable weapon and if he’s able to develop a backhand slice, I think he’ll be able to expose Alcaraz’s relative weakness on his backhand side and create more time for himself to create the angles that he hits against everyone else.
I think the reason Alcaraz has success against Sinner boils down to 3 factors:
1. Alcaraz seems less rushed against Sinner than everyone else (even Novak right now) because he can create time for himself through his offense. He can go down the line as we well as he can go crosscourt, so Sinner has to float closer to the middle than he does against most other players. This results in Sinner hitting balls with less time because he has to cover more ground more often and gives Alcaraz a shot that’s coming in with less power and accuracy than most of the rest of the tour faces.
2. Alcaraz isn’t bothered as much by Sinner’s pace as other players are. Alcaraz's forehand has a longer backswing than his backhand, so it’s for Sinner to get errors going big against that shot. Buuut, that’s also a dodgy prospect because if Sinner doesn’t absolutely clock that shot because of what I talked about in #1, Alcaraz can redirect Sinner’s shot with just as much pace crosscourt (often with a great angle) or up the line with a relatively safe shot because he has just so much spin. Alcaraz got Sinner doing this several times during the match today. Sinner’s backhand is solidly better than Alcaraz’s, but the pace Sinner feeds Alcaraz makes Alcaraz’s backhand look great because he absolutely loves the pace Sinner gives him. Against other opponents, Sinner’s backhand is a 10/10, while Alcaraz’s is a 7, but against each other, Alcaraz’s backhand ends up being closer to a 9.
3. This didn’t come up as much today because Sinner didn’t let him, but Alcaraz’s variety is usually a deciding factor in their matches. Sinner is excellent at making his opponent’s side of the court seem really wide and his own very narrow because of how hard and close to the lines he hits the ball. He controls the center of the court better than anyone in the world right now. HOWEVER, Alcaraz takes Sinner off his rhythm because Alcaraz can play long deep loopy balls to push Sinner back, but he also has the best drop shot in the world, which Sinner has to respect. Sinner ends up playing in parts of the court that he doesn’t want to be on, which makes his shot selection and quality not quite as good as it is against everyone else. That said, Sinner was on fire for 95% of this match and had Alcaraz playing on his terms. I was convinced that Sinner would win this because Sinner was playing so good that he had Alcaraz playing the match on Sinner’s terms: power tennis from the back of the court. His power stifled Alcaraz’s variety for the vast majority of this match.
There's a really interesting dynamic in terms of their levels against the rest of the tour. Alcaraz can play anywhere between a 7 and a 10/10, while Sinner is almost always at a 9. However, when they play against each other, and especially down the stretch, Alcaraz has shown the ability to tap into his very best tennis, while Sinner stays at that 9.
I know that their last five matches have gone Alcaraz’s way, but I’m confident Sinner will get his share of big wins in the future too. He’s already started adding a drop shot. If he’s able to make that a reliable weapon and if he’s able to develop a backhand slice, I think he’ll be able to expose Alcaraz’s relative weakness on his backhand side and create more time for himself to create the angles that he hits against everyone else.
mental midget
Hall of Fame
carlos needs to work on the hard slice, start carving the ball more. in all serious bringing goran on for some serve noodling could be a good thing.
Rosstour
Talk Tennis Guru
It's up to 5 in a row and 7 of the last 9, 8-4 overall
Sinner hasn't beaten Alcaraz in a slam since Wimbledon 2022, ie before Carlos ascended to slam winning form.
Cindysphinx
G.O.A.T.
This.
Alcaraz hit behind Sinner over and over, whereas Sinner just tries to hit through opponents.
Alcaraz has touch, whereas Sinner has none.
Alcaraz can play cat and mouse, whereas Sinner is always the mouse.
johnmccabe
Hall of Fame
Even Medvedev owned sinner like that for a while. It's easy to think Alcaraz is better after the match. I didn't think so when Sinner had those match points. I wonder how many people in this thread honestly believed Alcaraz would survive that game at that moment. Looking at Sinner performance in the 5th set, my guess is this rivalry will get better and better.
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duaneeo
G.O.A.T.
Surface disadvantage. Sinner didn't ascend to slam winning form until 2024 and Roland Garros is the only slam they've since met. And on paper, with Alcaraz being the defending RG champion and current Monte Carlo/Rome champion, and Sinner playing only his 2nd tournament since the AO and having been breadsticked at Rome, it should've been a straight-set Carlos victory.
captainbryce
Hall of Fame
This is the correct answer! It’s nothing technical like people are trying to make it out to be, nor is it surface related. It has to do with the fact that Alcaraz is just in Sinner’s head. Sinner knows that he can dominate any other player in the world. He also knows that Alcaraz has beaten him 4 times in a row (now 5). The sets are close, and the matches are close, and the surface has largely been irrelevant. It’s the fact that Carlos is capable of amazing clutch play when the time is right, and Sinner gets nervous, looses focus, and plays more sloppy in those critical moments against Alcaraz. He just doesn’t know what to do against Alcaraz.
Sinner literally had match points against Alcaraz multiple times and still lost the match. That’s how you know someone is in your head. There is no strategic secret formula that Sinner needs to crack in order to beat Alcaraz. He already has all of the weapons he needs. He just needs to believe in himself in the critical moments and play better when it matters. You can’t count on Alcaraz going away or giving up. You should plan on him playing clutch and going for his shots even when he’s on the brink of a loss. When Alcaraz was down two sets and a break, he played like he knew he was still going to win the match. You can’t teach mentality!
He would be scarred from this match, he most probably had problem sleeping last night. But he recovers from this matters the most
I dont agree with a lot of the answers here.
Carlo didnt win because he is a better player, you dont go 0-2 and down a break in the third vs a player that is clearly weaker than you. Its clear that they are pretty even as players, and clay is even Sinners worst and Carlos best surface.
Yesterday Sinner just couldnt finish it, for some reason. Lets be honest, Carlo put himself in a losing position, and a clutch player (Rafa/Nole) would win in Sinners shoes at 0-40 in the 4th set.
Carlo didnt win because he is a better player, you dont go 0-2 and down a break in the third vs a player that is clearly weaker than you. Its clear that they are pretty even as players, and clay is even Sinners worst and Carlos best surface.
Yesterday Sinner just couldnt finish it, for some reason. Lets be honest, Carlo put himself in a losing position, and a clutch player (Rafa/Nole) would win in Sinners shoes at 0-40 in the 4th set.
The Green Mile
Bionic Poster
Its fun watching Sinner off balance and rushed for time, hardly ever happens unless he plays Carlos.
You pretty much hit every point. Alcaraz is pretty much the only player on the planet these days who has the defense to hold off Sinner's power and the offense to push back. I think Djokovic still has the defense mostly but he's just not offensively minded enough to hold off Sinner these days. Mostly it comes down to his defense slipping a bit which doesn't give him as many offensive opportunities. That last Sinner/Djokovic match was brutal. Djokovic hung tough but Sinner kept bringing it big and Djokovic couldn't hit back enough. Alcaraz can hit back enough. Still it wasn't like Alcaraz killed Sinner, on a surface that saps some of Sinner's power advantage.
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Carlos is a rare athlete inspired by great play! You could see it by last play of the match. I don't see how Jannik can match that!
One thing is that, at crucial moments, Jannik has that Federer quality in him, the tendency to rush things! Whereas Carlos always has that calm demeanor!
One thing is that, at crucial moments, Jannik has that Federer quality in him, the tendency to rush things! Whereas Carlos always has that calm demeanor!
Rosstour
Talk Tennis Guru
Yeah. Whatever you need to tell yourself I guess. Fact is he was predicted to dominate the tour immediately on his return, and "The Tour" was to include Carlos. He got smoked in Rome and put on maybe the biggest choke show we have ever seen at RG. He's 0-2 vs Carlos just since his ban ended and looked totally flummoxed out there at times. I think it's time to dial the hype train back now
Spencer Gore
Legend
To be fair, he was one point away from winning so there really isn't some massive hurdle for Sinner to overcome. Their respective styles of play are pretty beautifully matched -unlike say Federer and Nadal where Roger's style of play made him inferior to Rafa for years on almost all surfaces, other than indoor hard.
Rosstour
Talk Tennis Guru
Hello Holmes/Herald.
The longest streak for either player in Fedal rivalry is 5 wins.
Alcaraz has won 5 in a row vs Sinner now. But yes, do explain how much more evenly matched they are
Spencer Gore
Legend
What does Holmes/Herald mean?
Dominic & Andrey
Legend
I know he lost their last matches on HC as well, but so far this year Alcaraz needed to be at his absolute best to defeat Sinner on Carlos's best surface and Jannik's worst. I like Carlitos a lot more but I wouldn't make hasty conclusions and rule Sinner out in that rivalry so quickly. One point played a bit better by Sinner yesterday and the narrative would seem a lot different.
Alcaras-Sinner is sort of the Roger-Rafa matchup? Roger could beat anyone else most of the time, but not Rafa. Late in their careers, Roger did get the upper hand, off clay.its because Alcarez plays with variety better than any other player and that throws off Sinner many times. and Carlos can also hit with power when he needs to. Those insane close to perfect drop shots carlos can hit over and over really bothers Sinner more than people realize. Yea sure Sinner sometimes runs it down and hits great shots but that's not the point... over the time span of long matches , that shot really has Cumulitive effects on a player and forces you into errors
For me, it's not really about better. Sinner is steadier whereas Alcaraz hits higher highs, but also has lower lows. Simply put, Sinner has a higher basement while Alcaraz has the higher ceiling. When Alcaraz isn't firing on all cylinders, Sinner can start rolling over him like he did at the start of the match. When Alcaraz plays to his peak, like in the last 15 points, he can roll over Sinner.
ALCARAZWON
Professional
Alcaraz leads 5-2 on hardcourt over Sinner.
And in 2024 they met TWICE on hardcourt, and only ONCE on clay.
Alcaraz beating Sinner at Beijing 2024 was especially telling...
Because Alcaraz's confidence was at an all-time low after losing to Botic van de Zandschulp at the US Open...
And losing to Monfils at Cincinnati, and losing that devastating Olympic Final to Djokovic when Alcaraz was 0-8 on break points!
Sinner's confidence was sky high entering Beijing having just won the US Open very easily... and Alcaraz still out-clutched him in the Beijing Final.
The fact is, the closer Sinner comes to winning, the more impossible it is for him to win... because Alcaraz wins all the biggest points.
Alcaraz wears the pants in this relationship on hardcourt, clay and we'll be watching at Wimbledon because grass is Alcaraz's BEST surface.
As Agassi said, everybody loses about 20% of foot-speed on grass, except for Alcaraz, and that's why he dominates Wimbledon.
And even when he's not dominating, even if you push him to 5-sets at Wimbledon like Tiafoe did, he's 13-1 in 5-setters, so you ain't beating him.
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Rosstour
Talk Tennis Guru
So why hasn't Sinner won a single match over Carlos since 2023 Beijing? That's around 19 months without a win.
Roger never went that long without beating Rafa. And Rafa's longest streak of wins was 5.
Yet no one is saying "Carlos owns Sinner" when similar numbers were forcing everyone to admit that Rafa owned Fed.
Small clarification that it's 10 in a row since the 5 set loss to Berrettini at the 2022 AO.
Because Alcaraz is always able to hit his peak level against Sinner, even if it sometimes takes him a while
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