Tuesday at Roland-Garros was a bitter-sweet day. Novak Djokovic withdrew from the tournament injured, yet the mouthwatering semi-final of Carlos Alcaraz vs Jannik Sinner has been booked.
Alcaraz couldn’t be more excited for the upcoming match, and has spoken openly about his rivalry with Sinner ahead of what will be their ninth meeting.
“I’m glad to have him in the Tour, to have him at this level,” the Spaniard shared on-court, having just defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to book his spot in the French Open semi-finals against Sinner.
“Thanks to him, I push myself to be better, to be a better player, to give my 100 percent every day, to wake up in the morning to want to improve my game to try to beat him,” Alcaraz continued. “So I’m grateful to have him play, and I love watching him play as well.”
Alcaraz on the challenge of facing Sinner
Two-time Grand Slam champion has two things clear in his mind: playing Sinner on Thursday is going to be hard, and it’s going to be good to watch.
“I think it is the match that everybody wants to watch,” the 20-year-old openly concluded. “When the draw came out, I think everybody wanted Jannik on my side playing the semi-final.“
“Let’s see how it’s going to be, but I think it’s going to be great for tennis and for the fans. Hopefully everyone is going to enjoy that match as much as I’m going to.”
Alcaraz went on to point out what makes the Italian just so difficult to share a tennis court with in 2024.
“You have to run like it is a marathon, side-to-side,” he said. “The way that he hit the ball is unbelievable. The way he moves, it’s really, really well. He pushes you to the limit in every ball, in every point.”
“I think he has nothing bad. Everything he does, he does it perfectly. He probably is one of the most difficult challenges that we can face in tennis right now… He’s the best player in the world,” Alcaraz concluded.
Will Alcaraz vs Sinner at Roland-Garros be another epic?
All signs are pointing toward Alcaraz vs Sinner being a fantastic match.
The pair have a 4-4 head-to-head across their brief rivalry. Their most recent match was a come-from-behind victory for Alcaraz just two months ago in Indian Wells, while the last time they met in Grand Slams, it was a brilliant five-setter at the US Open in 2022.
“We’ve played great matches,” Alcaraz reflected. “The quarter-final in [US Open] 2022, but after this one, we’ve played great, great matches, high level.“
“It’s going to be an interesting one,” the Spaniard continued, looking ahead to their clash in the French Open semi-finals. “As I said, the matches that we’ve played before have been unbelievable games.”
The winner of Alcaraz vs Sinner will move through to the French Open final, where they’ll be a heavy favorite to win against either Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud or Alex de Minaur.
