Andy Roddick tells Jannik Sinner the ‘biggest thing’ he must fix if he’s going to beat Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros

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Andy Roddick has offered Jannik Sinner a piece of advice that could help him overcome Carlos Alcaraz in years to come.

And the Italian will be looking for any marginal gain he can make against his generational rival, who has won their last four meetings now.

Naturally, Sinner’s three-month ban from tennis had a huge impact on his ability to compete physically in the Italian Open final, but that alone did not provoke his downfall.

Instead, Andy Roddick has argued that there was a key tactical flaw made which could have made all the difference.

Andy Roddick tells Jannik Sinner how to beat Carlos Alcaraz

Whilst there were a myriad of factors that likely led to Jannik Sinner’s defeat in the final, physical issues were surely paramount amongst them.

After all, three months away from the sport is likely to damage even the best player, which he had been before his ban.

Roddick remained staunch that this alone did not provoke his downfall on Sunday though, as he pinpointed one area that must improve to beat Carlos Alcaraz in the future.

He told Tennis Channel: ‘I think the biggest thing today was return position and, as effective as he is at making that return especially on second serves, that was missing a little bit today.

‘I think he actually pushed the wrist towards the sidelines a ton and it’s kind of a tough one because you know you have to take a little more risk against Carlos because of his wheels, but also not at the detriment of making unforced errors on a high forehand.

‘He has to defend second serve a little bit better, whatever that looks like. If it’s switching line on that first ball a little bit more often, so Carlos can’t be as creative, and also I think he would have wanted to stick more second serve returns today. Normally it’s something that he does very well.’

What is Carlos Alcaraz’s record on clay?

With this title, Alcaraz has added to his already sprawling collection of clay-court trophies won.

Notably, his Roland Garros triumph last year stands chief among them, but his form in Masters 1000-level events is almost equally as impressive.

After all, despite being just 22 years of age, he has already won Madrid twice, Monte-Carlo once and now Rome too.

And that’s without even mentioning his success in Barcelona, a 500-level event, and Rio, a 250.

This season alone he has a 15-1 record on the dirt, and since 2020 his win percentage stands at a lofty 83%. There’s no reason to think that he won’t soon extend that and add to his trophy cabinet in Paris.