Carlos Alcaraz v Jannik Sinner Episode 9: Spaniard addresses favourite claims

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will meet for a ninth time in top-level tennis when they square off in the semi-final of the French Open, but who is the favourite?

World No 3 Alcaraz booked his place in the last four with an impressive three-set win over Stefanos Tsitsipas while Sinner was equally masterful against Grigor Dimitrov as he also advanced without dropping a set. In fact, both have dropped only one set en route to the last four.

Head-To-Head Record

They are also level in terms of matches played against each other as they have four wins each with Alcaraz winning their most recent encounter in the semi-final of the Indian Wells Open in March this year. Sinner, meanwhile, has won their only match on clay with that coming in the 2022 Umag final.

They met three times in both 2023 and 2022 and Sinner edged it 2-1 in both years while Alcaraz won their first-ever clash in 2001.

“I’m really looking forward to facing him, it’s going to be a great battle and I’d love to have that head-to-head win,” Alcaraz said. “He’s gained a lot of consistency this year, he always shows a very high level on court.

“He doesn’t do anything wrong, he has an incredible ball striking, he takes you to the limit constantly and it’s very difficult to take the initiative away from him. I love the challenge of measuring myself against him because it makes me wake up every day wanting to be a better player.”

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Form In 2024

In terms of their form so far this year, Sinner edges that particular stat as he is 33-2 with his only defeats coming against Alcaraz in Indian Wells and against Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo.

Sinner is also set to climb to No 1 in the ATP Rankings for the first time after the French Open with his rise coming on the back of winning the Australian Open and Rotterdam Open earlier in the campaign.

Alcaraz is 23-5 with his defeats coming against Zverev at the Australian Open, Nicolas Jarry at the Argentina Open, Thiago Monteiro in Rio, Dimitrov in Miami and Rublev in Madrid.

The Spaniard knows he is facing a big battle.

“Well, you have to run like it is a marathon, you know, side-to-side. I think he holds nothing back. Everything he does, he does it perfectly,” the third seed said.

“The way that he hits the ball is unbelievable. The way he moves, it’s really, really well. He push you to the limit in every ball, in every point. I think it is the hardest thing to face Jannik.

“At the same time I love that. I love these kind of matches. I love this kind of challenge, you know, to have a really difficult battle against him. The previous matches that we’ve played I think it was like that, and I love that.

“I love to find solutions, to find a way to beat him the way that I did in Indian Wells. For example, that 6-1 in the first set, and then I found a way to make him in trouble. I think those situations are great for tennis to try to find the right ways, I would say.”

The Favourite?

Alcaraz is more comfortable on clay than Sinner, but the Italian is the form player.

“I know I’m facing the biggest challenge in the tennis world today, so I don’t feel like a favourite and I’ll probably be a little more nervous than usual,” Alcaraz said. “Since the draw was announced, everyone wanted to see this semi-final and so did I.”