Carlos Alcaraz fired a warning to Jannik Sinner as the Italian prepares to return to professional tennis next month by winning the Monte Carlo Masters.
Alcaraz came from behind to beat Lorenzo Musetti and win his second title of the year to go alongside the Rotterdam Open prize he won back in February.
Musetti fatigued badly after taking the opening set and that is a concern for him after enduring similar circumstances at other stages in his relatively short career to date.
The win was a big one for Alcaraz, with the Spaniard firing a message to Sinner ahead of his return to tennis next month at the Italian Open event in his home country.
The 21-year-old has now gone one place behind Sinner on the list of world rankings and now he will have the Italian player firmly in his sights.
Carlos Alcaraz makes Jannik Sinner claim after Monte Carlo Masters win
The rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner has been enthralling so far and the pair are fair and away the most consistent players on the tour at the moment.
Sinner is a long way ahead of Alcaraz at the top of the world rankings, but it’s hard to rule out the Spanish star going on a run and closing the gap further.
Much like his compatriot Rafael Nadal, Alcaraz simply doesn’t know when he’s defeated and he will be keen to get another crack at Sinner for a title as the year progresses.
Alcaraz was quizzed on the world rankings afterwards and he’s suggested tennis fans want to see him playing Sinner in extremely big finals going forward.
He said in his on-court interview: “Well, talking about the things that I learned the last couple of months or the last months is not thinking about anything else but enjoying on court.
“Something that I realized that I had to do is not think about anything else but enjoy. So I’m not thinking about the ranking anymore. Just keep going, making the things that I enjoy, that make me happy. It is a step on the court, showing good tennis, and that’s it.
“If I win, it is great. If I don’t win, I will learn and just keep going and making the things that make me happy. So the ranking is not my priority anymore, and let’s see what’s gonna happen in the next month until Roland Garros.
“Jannik and I, yeah, probably the people want that in the final. So let’s see.”
Boris Becker reacts to Carlos Alcaraz win
This was a great win for Alcaraz even if Musetti did seemingly capitulate on the fitness front towards the end of the match.
It will be a huge lift for Alcaraz to win the first tournament of the clay-court season and he will now have his eyes on the defence of his French Open title.
Alcaraz received a one-word message from Boris Becker on X after the ATP Tour posted an image of the player celebrating his win.
The former star player simply said ‘word’ and Alcaraz winning titles and smiling on a tennis court is always a sight for sore eyes.
Alcaraz was always going to be among the favourites in Monte Carlo and it now appears that he’s in fine fettle going into other clay-court tournaments this summer.
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