Jannik Sinner will be better and stronger than Carlos Alcaraz in 2024, says Serena Williams' ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou

Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes Jannik Sinner will raise his level and leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz in 2024.

In 2023, Sinner scripted his career’s best campaign yet. The 22-year-old added four titles to his cabinet. Three of these titles came during the second half of the season – a maiden Masters 1000 in Toronto and two ATP 500s in Beijing and Vienna.

Sinner also made a Grand Slam breakthrough by reaching the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships. He concluded his season with a runner-up finish at the ATP Finals, which was followed by a victory for Italy at the Davis Cup.

Serena Williams' former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who also coached Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz’s rival Holger Rune until recently, suggested that the Italian’s recent performances offer a glimpse into what is to come for him during the upcoming season.

“I think Jannik, with what he’s done at the end of 2023, will be 100% ready to perform at the highest level,” he said in a video on his Instagram page.

Mouratoglou added that the World No. 4 is likely to outperform his arch-rival, World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz.

“With the confidence of the last months, I see him playing better and stronger than Carlos next year,” he said.

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"Carlos Alcaraz was already complete" – Serena Williams' ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou explains the rise of Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner leads Carlos Alcaraz 4-3 in their head-to-head record

Similar to his 2022 campaign, Carlos Alcaraz earned some phenomenal results this season as well. After being crowned the youngest-ever ATP World No. 1 following his US Open win last year, the Spaniard enjoyed another historic feat when he defeated Novak Djokovic to become one of the youngest men’s Wimbledon champions in history.

The 20-year-old enthralled audiences with his electrifying tennis and lifted five more titles, two of them being Masters 1000s in Indian Wells and Madrid.

Patrick Mouratoglou agreed that Carlos Alcaraz is a few steps ahead of Jannik Sinner, thanks to his rich rèsumè and vast skillset.

“It’s true that Carlos is a few steps ahead compared to Jannik because he won two Grand Slams. He’s been number one. He had much more tools when he came to the tour. When he started to win, he could do anything. He could attack; he could defend; he had these incredible drop shots; he was coming to the net a lot, and he was very effective at the net. He was already complete,” he said.

The Frenchman, however, said that while Jannik Sinner may not have enjoyed meteoric rise similar to that of Carlos Alcaraz, the Italian has been steadily building his on-court prowess. This, according to Mouratoglou, will be key when it comes to the young duo’s 2024 campaigns.

“Jannik, when he came on tour and he started to win a lot, he had a game that was based on his number one quality which is staying close to the baseline, taking the ball early, and playing very fast. And the last 2-3 years, I think that Jannik developed a lot of other things," Mouratoglou said.

"Now he’s drop shotting much more, he’s coming to the net much more, with efficiency. So, I think now he’s ready to do many more things and to adapt to a lot of more situations,” he added.