Carlos Alcaraz shared his opinion on a decision that Jannik Sinner made prior to this year’s Wimbledon.
The French Open finalists share one of the most heated rivalries in tennis. The world number one, Sinner, and number two, Alcaraz, are the sport’s two bright superstars for years to come at age 23 and 22, respectively.
They shared one of the greatest matches in history at Roland Garros. Alcaraz won the French Open in five sets against Sinner, who lost the final despite having three match points in the third set.
The pair can only meet in the final as the top and second-ranked players in tennis, and Alcaraz had something to say about something Sinner did before the tournament.
Carlos Alcaraz disagrees with Jannik Sinner’s decision to split with trainer and physio
A week before Wimbledon, Sinner made the shock decision to part ways with his trainer and physiotherapist Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio. He entered Wimbledon without two members of his personal medical team.
Alcaraz, after his battle with Fabio Fognini in the first round, spoke on Sinner’s decision.
He said, “I think the ATP has good physios that can take care of the players. A lot of players are traveling without physios and without the fitness coach.”
But he continued to say he would struggle to do it himself. Alcaraz explained, “Talking about myself, I’ve been with them for a long time.
“Right now, I don’t see myself traveling without the physio or fitness coach. I built a really good relationship with both. They know my body even better than myself. For me, it would be tough.”
While there was no official explanation from Sinner’s team after the move, he downplayed it in his pre-tournament press conference.
Sinner said, “Nothing major happened. Nothing big happened. I parted ways not long ago, but it’s not affecting me. I feel ready to compete. I feel free. I feel me and my team, we are ready to do the best we can.
“In this sport things can happen. Sometimes a player feels something different, and that’s my case.”
That presents more questions than it answers. If things can happen in sport, then what happened? And what disagreement was there between Sinner and his physio and trainer that led to them splitting a week before the tournament?
We don’t seem to be any closer to an answer on that as Wimbledon gets underway, however.
Sinner in ‘good spot’ mentally despite Roland Garros loss
Sinner’s French Open Final was painful for the Italian, but the world number one arrived into SW19 in good spirits.
He said he had moved past the emotions of the match, “What happened in the past is in the past already. Especially mentally, I feel in a very good spot.”
He continued, “I feel like that I’m playing great, great tennis on grass. I’m just looking forward to go on court and to compete and enjoy it.”
Sinner had a small amount of time off to reset between the French Open and Wimbledon, but was upset in the Halle Open in the second round at the hands of in-form Alexander Bublik.
All in all, he says he’s in a good mental place. “I had some time off before coming here,” he said. “I feel ready to compete again. I’m here to play good tennis.”
Should both Sinner and Alcaraz hold up their ends of the bargain, we could see yet another classic match between these two rivals in the final.