"Pete Sampras always looked at how Majors unfolded" - American's ex-coach on why Novak Djokovic should be Player of the Year over Carlos Alcaraz

Pete Sampras' former coach Paul Annacone recently gave his views on the race between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz for the year-end No. 1, and whether it influences who was the better player during the season.

At last week's Paris Masters, Djokovic put the finishing touches to his bid for the year-end World No. 1 position with a record-extending seventh title. Alcaraz, on the other hand, exited the tournament in the second round, failing to gain any new ATP ranking points to close the gap on his older rival.

The 24-time Major winner stands tall at 11,445 ATP points in the latest rankings, whereas the young Spaniard's tally is at 8,455 points. While the World No. 2 can potentially leapfrog the Serb if he wins the year-end tournament in Turin without dropping a single match, he will need the 24-time Major winner to go 0-3 in his group-stage encounters.

In that context, Paul Annacone recently sat down for an interview with Tennis Channel to discuss the tussle for the men's year-end World No. 1 spot. Annacone personally believes that the Spaniard wouldn't truly be the best player of the year in any case, since it was Novak Djokovic who had won three of the four Majors in 2023.

To illustrate his point, he gave an anecdote about how 14-time Major winner Pete Sampras himself valued winning multiple Grand Slam tournaments in a year over finishing the season as the top-ranked player on the ATP Tour.

"He [Alcaraz] has had a terrific year, but in my opinion, there's no way Novak shouldn't be number one no matter what. He's won three out of the four majors, got to the finals of the other one. So he's my year-end number one anyway," he said. (6:31)

"I remember back in the day, coaching Pete Sampras and Pete used to talk to me about that all the time. Sure, you want to win the, you know, do well on the tour and win the big, bigger tournaments, the one thousands in year-end championships. But you know, he always looked at how the majors kind of unfolded," he added. (7:10)

Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon but was bested by the Serb all year round

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic

Carlos Alcaraz, on his part, has enjoyed a great season this year, with a 63-10 win/loss record and six titles to boot. The 20-year-old's physical conditioning, however, failed him at the Majors.

While Alcaraz was able to win the Wimbledon final against Djokovic in five sets, he was far from his best physically during his semifinal losses at Roland Garros and the US Open. He also missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury that he had picked up during his off-season training.

Novak Djokovic, on the other hand, has shown no signs of slowing down even at the age of 37. The Serb won the Happy Slam despite suffering from hamstring niggles, dropping only a single set in his seven matches.

The 36-year-old was again in his element in Paris, physically outlasting Alcaraz in a tough four-set affair. He did take a short break from tennis after his unceremonious title defense at SW19, though, in a bid to recharge his batteries.

This ploy seems to have worked well, considering Djokovic hasn't lost a match since then. The Serb launched a successful return to the ATP Tour as he beat Alcaraz in the Cincinnati Open final, in a match that lasted nearly four hours.

The 36-year-old was then relatively unchallenged at the 2023 US Open, winning the tournament for the loss of only two sets (both of them came off in a third-round five-setter against Laslo Djere).

The Serb's most recent title came at the recently concluded Paris Masters, which put him as a firm favourite for both next week's ATP Finals and an eighth year-end World No. 1 finish.