Jannik Sinner told he made a ‘huge error’ in the first set against Carlos Alcaraz which ended up hurting him badly in the Italian Open final

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Jannik Sinner was unable to cap off his return to tennis in style after being beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in the Italian Open final.

Sinner came back to tennis in Rome, with many eyes on the world number one to see how he would perform after three months on the sidelines.

The world number one was able to return to the match court in similar form to how he left, with Sinner reaching his first Italian Open final this week.

However, Sinner could not complete his comeback with a title, and a former doubles world number one has spotted a mistake that he made in the final against Alcaraz.

Rennae Stubbs tells Jannik Sinner he made a huge error against Carlos Alcaraz

Alcaraz beat Sinner, 7-6(5) 6-1, but it was not as straightforward for the Spaniard as the score may suggest.

In the first set Sinner actually had two set point opportunities, and six-time doubles Grand Slam champion Rennae Stubbs believes that he should have converted one of them.

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Stubbs claimed that Sinner made a mistake by going for a backhand down the line which ended up costing him.

“Sinner made a huge error going for that backhand down the line on his set point,” said Stubbs. “Now you can see why the variety of shots and slightly better movement on clay will more often favor Carlos in this match up.

“You can’t out hit a great mover every point and his kick serve is so effective too.”

Alcaraz lost only one more game from this point in the match, and was not broken once by Sinner.

Carlos Alcaraz continues impressive head-to-head record against Jannik Sinner

Despite being the clear world number one, Sinner has struggled against Alcaraz over the past year.

Following their Italian Open final, Alcaraz has now won his last four meetings against the three-time major winner.

As a result, Alcaraz now leads his head-to-head against the Australian Open champion by seven wins to four.

This includes a 5-2 advantage on Sinner’s preferred hard courts, with Alcaraz also having an advantage on clay.

Both players will now look ahead to the second major tournament of the year at Roland Garros, where they will be the top two seeds.

Alcaraz is the defending champion at the Parisian Grand Slam that gets underway on Sunday May 25.