Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are driving each other to new heights, arriving at Wimbledon as the clear favorites to clash in back-to-back Grand Slam finals.
Earlier this month, Alcaraz – Wimbledon’s defending champion and the tournament’s No. 2 seed – staged a stunning comeback at Roland Garros, rallying from two sets down and saving three championship points to defeat world No. 1 Sinner in a five-set French Open thriller.
Together, they have split the last six Grand Slam titles, but their epic in Paris marked the first time they met in a major final.
It was the first Grand Slam final contested by two men born this century and set the tone for a generation-defining rivalry, evoking memories of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, or Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Alcaraz has won eight of their 12 meetings, including the last five, but he knows it is far from a one-sided matchup.
“Every match that I play against him is important, honestly,” said the Spaniard, 22.
“As I’ve said many times, every time we face each other, we raise our level to the top.
“If you want to win Grand Slams, you have to beat the best tennis players in the world. I think it feels much better when you face them in the final.
“He’s going to come back stronger the next time we face each other.
“I’m pretty sure he’s going to do his homework. I’m pretty sure I’m going to try to learn from that match – how he can be better, how he can tactically do damage in his game.
“I’m not going to beat him forever. That’s obvious. So I have to keep learning from the matches I play against him and hopefully play more Grand Slam finals.”
Sinner has reached two finals – losing both to Alcaraz – since returning from a three-month doping ban. Despite the current sequence of defeats, he said he relishes being one half of such an absorbing rivalry.
“I think every rivalry is different,” said the 23-year-old. “Back in the day, they played a little bit different tennis. Now the ball is going fast. It’s very physical. It’s slightly different from my point of view, but you cannot compare.
“I was lucky enough to play against Novak (Djokovic), against Rafa. Beating these guys, it takes a lot. I have the same feeling with Carlos and some other players.
“It’s good to see that we can produce tennis like this, because I think it’s good for the whole movement of tennis. Of course, I’m happy to be part of this.”
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