Carlos Alcaraz further flexed his credentials when it comes to playing tennis on clay with a brilliant victory in the final of the Italian Open against Jannik Sinner.
The Spaniard came through a first-set tie-breaker before a dominant 6-1 set to claim another ATP 1000 title for his collection.
Alcaraz has beaten Jack Draper and Lorenzo Musetti on his way to his latest title and he’s geared up for the French Open in some style with this win over Sinner.
The Italian player was making a first competitive outing for three months following his ban and he can take a lot of heart into the Roland Garros event next week too.
It’s the fourth time in succession that Sinner has fallen foul of the brilliant Alcaraz and that will be ringing around his head going into the second Grand Slam of the year, which starts next Sunday.
Andy Roddick makes Carlos Alcaraz claim after latest win over Jannik Sinner
The man who won a US Open title during his career as a player is one of the better tennis pundits out there in the modern era and when he talks, people tend to listen.
After Alcaraz claimed a fourth win on the bounce over Sinner, Roddick shared why he thinks that the Spaniard has been so successful against him.
He told The Tennis Channel: “Weirdly all the options that Alcaraz has sometimes get him in trouble, which aren’t Jannik Sinner. There is almost like too many options and which do I deploy today, whereas when he is playing Sinner, he knows that he has to use those fadeaway backhands he was using. Even though Sinner stepped in and knocked a couple off it was there the next time. What that does it is opens up the backhand line, opens up the drop shots and opens up all of these different elements, so he is in full flight and has no guilt about trying crazy stuff because you kind of have to against Jannik Sinner.
“The other thing that Carlos has, which most players don’t have against Jannik Sinner, is picture-perfect preparation and technique. He can take a ball which is heavy, where Sinner is leaning on it, and create speed off of that because his technique and preparation and footwork is the way you would teach anyone, really.”
Carlos Alcaraz takes psychological advantage into French Open
Last year, Sinner and Alcaraz split the four Grand Slam titles between them, with Sinner taking the first and the last and Alcaraz the two in the middle.
As a result, both players will likely be on a collision course once again this year to outdo each other when it comes to the big titles.
| Year | Event | Round | Score |
| 2025 | Italian Open | F | 7-6, 6-1 |
| 2024 | Beijing Masters | F | 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 |
| 2024 | French Open | SF | 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 |
| 2024 | Indian Wells | SF | 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 |
On clay, it does feel as though Alcaraz has the edge and it was quite clear from the outset today that neither player wanted to lose this match ahead of such a big tournament.
Now, all the focus will be placed on Paris and after this performance, it’s hard to see Alcaraz being anything other than the man to beat at the next Grand Slam.
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