The two new stars of world tennis do not exchange much.
Jannik Sinner has been on the rise since the start of 2024 with his title at the Australian Open, his first Grand Slam tournament. The Italian, still a very young Italian, has been on an upward trajectory for several months and is clearly the future of world tennis. On the other side of the Gulf of Lion, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is no longer really the future, but the present of world tennis for several seasons. Youngest world number 1, he is also a double Grand Slam winner with the US Open 2022 and Wimbledon 2023. Even if the start of the 2024 season does not live up to his ambitions, the Spaniard returns in good form .
But like the relationships within the Djokovic-Nadal-Federer trio and even the very frank camaraderie between the last two, we often question the relationships between the two new stars of global tennis. If there is a lot of respect between the two players, Jannik Sinner explained in a press conference on the sidelines of the Masters 1000 in Miami that they did not “talk a lot”.
“I like him a lot. I hope it’s just starting. He’s an impressive player. Normally when we play against each other we have very good games. We give our best ‐even on the field, we have a lot of respect for each other”begins Sinner, before continuing: “Off the field we don’t talk much […]. We are different: I may be someone who doesn’t show a lot of emotion, but that suits me. I’m very happy every time we play against each other, he gives me new perspectives on the things I need to work on.”
At the beginning of March 2024, the Spaniard won a new title in Indian Wells, the second in a row, after notably getting rid of a certain Jannik Sinner in three sets, 1-6, 6-3, 6- 2 in a match marked by a rather unusual invasion of bees. So far, the two have faced each other eight times on the main circuit and are tied 4-4 in their matchups. The young Spaniard leads 4-2 on hard court, while the Italian won both matches on clay and grass.
The challenge for the coming months will be to know if the two men can definitively take the place of Novak Djokovic, in difficulty since the start of the season, but far from being retired. Especially since the clay season will begin with Roland Garros, before the Olympic Games then the grass season with Wimbledon