Carlos Alcaraz has a target on his back ahead of the clay court season, with Jannik Sinner closing in on his number one ranking.
Alcaraz suffered an early exit at the Miami Open, and the gap between himself and Sinner is now at 1,590 points.
While this is still a significant deficit, Alcaraz has over 3,000 points to defend during the clay court season, while Sinner, who was banned for three months last year, has just 1,950 points to defend until after the French Open.
With Alcaraz winning the Monte Carlo Masters last year, Sinner can return to world number one this week, and Greg Rusedski has revealed who he thinks has the advantage ahead of the clay court season.
Greg Rusedski is backing Jannik Sinner to have a better clay court season than Carlos Alcaraz
When discussing Alcaraz and Sinner on his Off-Court with Greg Rusedski podcast, the former US Open finalist revealed what he had noticed from both players during his time seeing them at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Rusedski revealed that he had been impressed by what he had seen from Sinner in particular, and stated that he was slightly favouring the Italian over Alcaraz.
“Sinner to me has been impressive,” said Rusedski. “I got here on Wednesday night and Thursday morning I was at the practice court, guess who was at the practice court, Jannik Sinner.
“Basket of balls, [Simone] Vagnozzi, working, working and working. Double sessioning it up, putting in, he is on a tear. You’d think a guy who has just won the Sunshine Double would want a little bit of time off, nah he’s straight at it, he’s back on it.
“For Carlos, this is a natural surface. He probably wanted a little bit of time off at home, we heard his comments after he lost his match in Miami and said he’s not enjoying it quite as much, said there’s a few little things going on. I think it was refreshing for him to go home a little bit and now he’s here, I saw him today and it seems like he’s ready to go as well.
“So it seems like there’s a battle of power there, but right now I am slightly favouring Sinner from what I am seeing, because of just his confidence, but you can never discount either one of those two guys.”
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Rusedski added, “…Well, I don’t think he’s [Alcaraz] worried about the points. When you’re as good as those two guys, you’re worrying about winning every single week you play. That’s the ultimate goal. The greatest tennis match I’ve witnessed live is last year in the Roland Garros final, Sinner and Alcaraz. How many match points did Sinner have? And then the rebound back to win Wimbledon, incredible.
“Don’t discount this weapon, the mind, I’m pointing to my head right now. That to me is the number one ingredient and you know Carlos yes, if you look at the way his shot options, his natural ability on the surface, the way he can change heights and do all those things.
“But Sinner keeps adding and adding to his game, and he’s ruthless, and he’s really driven. Who knows who’s going to dominate, choose at your peril either one of these two.”
Sinner needs to at least reach the semifinals to return to world number one at the Monte Carlo Masters, but he can guarantee his position at the top of the ATP rankings if he wins the title.
Greg Rusedski suggests ATP player who could challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner on clay
While Alcaraz and Sinner are the two dominant forces in men’s tennis right now and have been for the last two years, there is also a lot of conversation around who could challenge them.
When making his picks for who could do well during the clay court season, Rusedski backed Alexander Zverev alongside Alcaraz and Sinner, before suggesting Arthur Fils as an outside pick.
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Rusedski also made his WTA clay court predictions, naming Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek, who is now being coached by Francisco Roig, but admitted his doubts over world number two Elena Rybakina.
“Alcaraz and Sinner is the no brainer, those two guys are up there without even thinking about it whatsoever,” said Rusedski. “And if I’ve got to put a third guy into the mix, this is the difficult one as well, who are you going to throw into that mix?
“You’d think is it [Lorenzo] Musetti, is it a player like Zverev, who’s going to be that third guy? I hate to be really boring, but I’m going for the top three men in the world, which is Zverev, Alcaraz and Sinner, really boring.
“In the women’s, it’s Sabalenka, Gauff and I’ve got a feeling that this partnership with Swiatek is going to bring good results.”
Rusedski continued, “…My outsiders, you already took mine. I was going Arthur Fils was mine, so you already picked him for me. In the women’s game, it’s kind of hard to pick someone, because Rybakina usually struggles on the clay and she’s one of the ones I’d put in there.
“But I’m not sure who’s going to step up in the women’s game on the clay. Whether it’s [Jasmine] Paolini, who has been hitting here with Sinner, because most players live in Monte Carlo.”
Alcaraz will begin his clay court season against Sebastian Baez, while Sinner will play his first match at the Monte Carlo Masters against Ugo Humbert.
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