Carlos Alcaraz gets real about Jannik Sinner rivalry

Carlos Alcaraz recently commented on his approach while facing his biggest rival Jannik Sinner. The Spaniard is chasing his maiden Australian Open title and said that the World No. 1's consistent success pushes him to train harder and gives him an incentive to improve even more.

Carlos Alcaraz's rivalry with Jannik Sinner is currently one of the highlights of the men's tour. In a total of 10 matches played against the Italian, Alcaraz maintains a commendable lead with 6 wins on his side.

In a pre-tournament press conference at the 2025 Australian Open, Carlos Alcaraz was asked about the mindset changes he adopted while facing Sinner. Admitting the fact that he handles it with a different approach, the World No. 3 said:

"When I am playing against him I have a different mindset. I mean when you're facing the best player in the world, you have to do something different. Different preparation or different mind set or whatever. So when I am facing him, I just know that I have to play my best if I want to win and that's it. If I have a bad day against Jannik, it's 99% that you are going to lose so that's what is in my mind every time that I am going to play against him," he said.

Along with that, the Spaniard also mentioned how this rivalry has had a positive impact on him in the past year.

"And the good thing for me is when I see him winning titles, in the top of the ranking forces me to practice even harder everyday. In the practice I'm just thinking the things I have to improve just to play against him so that thing is great for me, having him and have such a great rivalry so far just to give the best of me everyday," he added.

Both Alcaraz and Sinner have landed in the same half for the third consecutive slam. The Spaniard's path to the final looks to be on the tougher side, with big names like Alexander Bublik, Tommy Paul, Alexander Zverev, and more falling in line. With this setup, the fans will likely get to witness another clash between the two top-ranked rivals.

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Alexander Zverev makes his pick between Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic

Before the start of the Australian Open - Source: Getty

German ATP star Alexander Zverev did not shy out from announcing his pick for the 2025 Australian Open. The German is yet to win a Major but tipped Jannik Sinner as the player to win the Slam Down Under this year and successfully defend his title.

In a press conference ahead of the first major event of the season, the German expressed his admiration for the Jannik's dominance on hard courts.

“I think it's always very exciting in Australia. But yeah, I think the biggest favorites are still Jannik is very far up that list. He's still No. 1 by a big margin I think on the favorite list. Then Carlos and Novak, obviously I see them as well very high up the list,” he said.

Jannik Sinner secured his first-ever grand slam title at the 2024 Australian Open. The Italian took down the hard court expert Daniil Medvedev in an intense five-setter that lasted for 3 hours and 44 minutes.

Coming off of a successful 2024 campaign, Sinner will be looking to avoid the noise surrounding his doping row and focus on clinching the third Major of his career. He will start his Australian Open campaign with a first-round encounter against Nicolas Jarry on Monday, January 13.