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Former Italian tennis professional Paolo Bertolucci recently claimed that Carlos Alcaraz is mentally inferior to Jannik Sinner. The comment has, unsurprisingly, irked several tennis fans on social media.
Bertolucci won a total of six singles titles on the men's circuit and achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 12 before calling it a day in the year 1983. He also captained Italy's Davis Cup contingent from 1985 to 2001.
Bertolucci currently works as a commentator for Sky Sports. In a recent interview, he suggested that Alcaraz is secondary to Sinner in terms of mentality.
“In my opinion, Alcaraz is great technically, even physically, but mentally he is light years away from Sinner," he said. (via Fanpage.it)
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Bertolucci claimed that Alcaraz indulges in showboating, which he believes has cost the Spaniard matches in the recent past. He said:
"He looks for something else besides just winning the point, many times he seems to have fun and involve the audience because he has a tennis made of ‘special effects'. He is not satisfied with just winning the point, he wants to do it with a double somersault.
"They are beautiful things, they drive you crazy to watch, but sometimes they make you lose the matches. There are times when everything is easy and you can have fun. However, when it’s 3-3 in the third set, you need to go back to basics, and he has been lacking lately from this point of view."
The comments didn't go down well with fans online. According to some on X (formerly Twitter), Bertolucci overlooked Alcaraz's achievements while making the assessment.
"Alcaraz won 2 GS, was #1 before Sinner and he is younger. That would mean he is mentally stronger. Stop the crazy hype. Both are good players and will have ups and downs throughout their careers," one fan wrote.
Another fan defended Carlos Alcaraz by reminding Bertolucci of the Spaniard's victory over Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon 2023 final.
"Disrespectful acting like Alcaraz didn't win vs Djokovic in a slam final," the fan wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from X:
Jannik Sinner leads Carlos Alcaraz 4-3 in head-to-head
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have played against each other seven times thus far, with the Italian ahead by a slim margin of 4-3 in the head-to-head.
The duo first locked horns on the ATP tour in the year 2021 at the Paris Masters. Alcaraz drew first blood as he defeated Sinner 7-6(1), 7-5 in the Round-of-32 battle.
Sinner responded by prevailing in the following two duels.
The two players had a memorable five-setter in the US Open 2022 quarterfinals, battling hard for five hours and 15 minutes. The eventual champion Alcaraz crossed the line at 2:50 am (local time) with the scoreline reading 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-3.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner most recently met in the semifinals of the China Open 2023, where the latter registered a 7-6(4), 6-1 win.
