Patrick Mouratoglou made some interesting observations about Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s head-to-head rivalry.
The two young stars have solidified themselves as the leading players of this new era in men’s tennis.
Alcaraz and Sinner split the Grand Slams between them this season and engaged in three epic battles as they took their rivalry to the next level.
Their styles of play are often scrutinised and compared to some of those who came before them, and now Mouratoglou has shared his thoughts on their intriguing matchup.
What does Patrick Mouratoglou think about the Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner rivalry?
Like many, Patrick Mouratoglou has closely watched the development of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner since they emerged on the ATP Tour.
They have become the first players since the ‘Big 3’ of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to establish themselves as leading players, especially at Grand Slam level.
It is evident how evenly-matched the pair in their head-to-head rivalry. Alcaraz leads six wins to four and in 2024, each of their three meetings went to a deciding set.
Though Sinner has shown he is currently more consistent than Alcaraz following an excellent season that produced nine titles, Mouratoglou thinks the Spaniard has elements in his game that will enable him to defeat the World number one more often than not.
“So far I see Alcaraz mostly beating him because Alcaraz can create more. He has this extra power and he can fight with him in terms of movement also,” the Frenchman told Tennis Majors.
“The thing is, Alcaraz is making quite a lot of unforced errors where Sinner doesn’t. So the matches between them have a lot of ups and downs and it changes often.
“You know, the one is leading, then the other one [takes over] because when Alcaraz plays at his best I think he is able to be better than Sinner.”
Patrick Mouratoglou highlights the big difference between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s games
Alcaraz and Sinner have contrasting playing styles, as did some of the greats of the game that came before them.
The rivalries of Federer and Nadal and John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg saw two very different players face one another and produce some of greatest matches of all time in their respective rivalries.
Sinner and Alcaraz have already played some very close matches over the course of their first 10 matches, and Mouratoglou, the coach of Naomi Osaka, has since suggested why that is the case.
“But he [Alcaraz] cannot play like this the whole match so Sinner is always stable. That’s why the matches are so close every time,” he added.
“Sinner can hit a winner on every single shot. That’s the feeling and it is quite disturbing. You can never relax, you cannot build because you are always in danger, always on every shot.
“But what I think the most important thing is not that you are in danger on every shot, which is the case, it is that he does it with consistency. Everything is controlled.
“He has this level of aggressiveness with the control at the same time and that is what makes him so special. I think Sinner really plays the modern game at his best.”
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