We have witnessed similar scenes before.
Jannik Sinner (22) whips his right hands and Carlos Alcaraz (20), on the other side of the net, runs and flutters around like a fan. Alcaraz does not give away a point, he arrives as he can but lengthens the exchange, and at the same time rebuilds the passage, recovers, releases a parallel or a lob that slows down the game and throws the Italian off.
Point for Alcaraz.
Similar scenes abound in newspaper archives, and more will come, since the Alcaraz-Sinner is destined to become a regular duel, not a thing of the past, nor of the present. It’s what’s coming.
We also see what is coming at the Diamond Court in Beijing, the scene of the China Open. In reality, this is a painful passage for Alcaraz, since he loses the duel against Sinner. The Italian grows, and he removes Alcaraz so much that he ends up dismantling him: 7-6 (4) and 6-1 he signs the score at the end of the match. Sinner is projected to the semifinal of this ATP 500 and Alcaraz retires to his royal chambers, to analyze what has happened, since the dance has disconcerted him, especially in the second set.
Sinner’s victory makes it 4-3 in favor of the Italian in the direct matches between the two, but in its background there are other effects, these more psychological. We cannot understand that Alcaraz is clearly above the Italian: Sinner is closing the disadvantage.
To put it in perspective, you have to go back four years. For example, until the fall of 2020, the fall of the pandemic. The quarterfinals of Roland Garros are being played and Sinner, 18 years old barely adds up, complicates life for Nadal. The match goes on and the Manacorí ends up scoring it, but the tennis community applauds the emergence of a new talent, an Italian who, many said even then, “will be Top 3 very soon.” Well: he is not yet.
In this period, while Sinner is still struggling to stabilize in the Top 10 (today he is 7th), the one who has grown has been Alcaraz, two years younger, already at the head of the ATP circuit for a long time, and two Grand Slams in his showcase, an established tennis player who is compared to Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, and not so much to his generational colleagues.
Sinner’s victory revises this state of affairs.
Will Alcaraz stay up?
Will follow.
But you won’t be alone.
In the final, Sinner will be met by Daniil Medvedev, extraordinarily solid on a fast surface, who gets rid of Sasha Zverev (6-4 and 6-3) in their duel, a Next Gen classic.
