Jannik Sinner v Carlos Alcaraz: How the two wonder boys compare in tennis’ new dawn
Peer pressure can be a great motivator. On Sunday night, in the afterglow of Jannik Sinner’s maiden major title, his coach was asked how much Sinner had been inspired by the example of Carlos Alcaraz. The answer was unequivocal.
“Hell, yeah,” said Darren Cahill, a hugely respected operator who has already worked with three world No 1s. “Carlos has trailblazed for a lot of young players. We’re thankful for that. He’s a delight to watch play, we aspire to be as good as him and hopefully one day be better than him. But at the moment we’re chasing Carlos, and we’ll continue to do that.”
Was Cahill being a little over-generous in his final sentence? Yes Alcaraz has two major titles to Sinner’s one, having landed the 2022 US Open and last summer’s Wimbledon crowns. But at 20 years old, he is also still learning to come to terms with the high expectations around him. Having won six of the ten events he entered over the first half of last season, Alcaraz has gone zero from eight since.
The 22-year-old Sinner, meanwhile, has stepped up with a phenomenal sequence that makes him the world’s best player on form. It would be impressive enough to have lost just one of his last 15 matches – and that against Novak Djokovic at the conclusion of the ATP Finals. But this stat becomes even more startling when you look closer. Nine of these opponents were top-10 players.
As long as both men stay fit and motivated, we can look forward to a long rivalry – and one with the X-factor that comes with a clash of styles. Alcaraz plays loose and instinctive tennis, sometimes struggling to maintain his focus throughout the match. Whereas Sinner – an Italian who grew up close to the Austrian border in the mountainous province of South Tyrol – has the relentless discipline we often associate with German engineering.
So how do these two whizzkids stack up against each other? Here is a short breakdown:
Serve
Alcaraz 7/10
With his explosive physicality, Alcaraz can wallop down a 134 mph serve when he so wishes. But his chest-on action is not the most technically correct, and his accuracy needs improvement. He puts a lot of first serves in the box, without finding the corners often enough. Over the course of 2023, his tally of 302 aces was relatively low.
Sinner 8/10
One of the most remarkable achievements of Cahill and his coaching partner Simone Vagnozzi has been to completely revamp Sinner’s serve, adding more shoulder turn and a sliding back foot before the leap. “His serve improved a lot,” said Djokovic after their semi-final in Melbourne. “He’s hitting his corners very well, and I think he upped his speed, as well.” In the final, Sinner faced a crisis at break point in the fourth set. His response? An ace down the ‘T’.
Groundstrokes
Alcaraz 8/10
When it’s on, the Alcaraz forehand becomes a wand, capable of imparting any combination of pace, spin and angle. Yet this is a flamboyant swing that can also spray the ball when timing eludes him – which is what happened throughout the first two sets of his quarter-final loss to Alexander Zverev in Melbourne. Increasingly, Alcaraz’s opponents have started serving to his forehand, because his return tends to cough up errors. His backhand is more compact and reliable, though not such a lethal weapon.
Sinner 10/10
Sinner is mesmerising off the ground. There is a computer-game quality to the way he thumps his shots with equal pace and penetration off both wings, never dropping his tempo for a second. Sinner’s groundstrokes are the best in the world right now, even surpassing those of Djokovic, who finished 2023 with the highest-rated forehand and backhand of the season.
Variety
Alcaraz 10/10
It felt appropriate that Alcaraz sealed his Wimbledon title, and concluded the finest match of 2023, by repeatedly drop-shotting Djokovic. His forehand drop-shot, in particular, has changed the game. This option used to be a rare visitor to the ATP Tour, but is now catching on with many players. Alcaraz is also an accomplished volleyer with magnificent touch.
Sinner 8/10
Your strength is also your weakness, they say, and Sinner’s metronomic groundstrokes have always been so strong and so natural that he didn’t develop many other options during his development phase. Again, the coaching of Cahill and Vagnozzi has proved invaluable here. Of late, they have equipped him with a decent if not world-beating drop-shot, plus a solid slice. He volleys with increasing authority as well.
Movement
Alcaraz 10/10
An electrifying jack-in-the-box, Alcaraz is one of the hardest players to hit through, because he moves laterally with such speed and ease that he could be on rails. When switching to the other axis – forward and back in the court – he is even faster. If you want proof, take a look at the impossible trick shot that Alcaraz hit against Djokovic at Roland Garros last year. He must have travelled through a wormhole to reach that ball.
Sinner 9/10
Again, Sinner is less attention-grabbing than Alcaraz, but he covers the court with great fluency and poise. If there is a table-tennis quality to his hitting style, that is because he is always cutting off the angles and moving forward to take his opponent’s time away. You rarely see him pushed deep behind the baseline.
Totals: Alcaraz 35 Sinner 35
The two young meteors have come out equal in our survey, but I’m going to give the win to Sinner anyway. Groundstrokes should really count double, because they are the bread-and-butter of any tennis match. It is hard to see Alcaraz beating Sinner on a hard court right now, especially given their respective confidence levels. But the great charm of tennis is that everything changes: not only form but conditions and surfaces. Once the tour moves on to the red clay of Europe, all bets are off.
