Carlos Alcaraz admits he is ‘surprised’ by how dominant Jannik Sinner was in his Wimbledon semi-final win over Novak Djokovic on Friday.
Italian world No.1 tennis star Sinner smashed Djokovic 6-3 6-3 6-4 in the last four, in a match which was widely anticipated to be much closer.
Sinner’s victory means he will face Spanish world No.2 Alcaraz in Sunday’s Wimbledon final, which gets underway at 4pm on Centre Court in SW19.
It’s the second Grand Slam final in a row that Alcaraz and Sinner are facing each other after their epic battle at the French Open earlier this summer.
Alcaraz arguably heads in as the favourite – having landed the last two Wimbledon titles, beating Djokovic in the final on both occasions – but Sinner will be seeking revenge for his five-set loss at Roland-Garros.
Alcaraz ‘surprised’ by Sinner’s win over Djokovic
Quizzed if he was shocked by how dominant Sinner was in his straight-sets victory over 38-year-old 24-time major champion Djokovic, Alcaraz said: ‘Yeah, that match surprised me a little bit obviously.
‘Winning [against] Novak is a really difficult challenge, really difficult things to do. So beating him quite easily, it’s even harder.
‘But the level that Jannik’s playing, it’s really high, as always. I think he doesn’t get down a level in the matches. It’s unbelievable what he can do on a tennis court.’
Asked for his reflections on this year’s French Open final, in which Alcaraz beat Sinner 4-6 6-7 6-4 7-6 7-6, the Spaniard added: ‘It was the best match that I have ever played so far.
‘I’m not surprised he just pushed me to the limit. I expect that on Sunday just to be [pushed to] the limit, to be on the line.
‘Yeah, [it is] just going to be a great day, a great final. I’m just excited about it.
‘I mean, I just hope not to be five-and-a-half hours on the court again (smiling). If I have to, I will.But I think it’s going to be great.’
One of Alcaraz or Sinner have come out on top at the last six major tournaments but the Spaniard is adamant that the two players need to maintain this level for the next five to 10 years until they can be put in the same bracket as the likes of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
‘I think the things that we are doing right now, I think it is great for tennis,’ Alcaraz continued.
‘We fight to engage more people to watch tennis. We’re fighting for tennis to be bigger, as all the tennis players are doing.
‘For me, yeah, sharing the big tournaments with Jannik, I think it is great or just playing in the finals of the tournaments and in final rounds of the tournament. I think it’s great, or at least for me.
‘We are still really young. So I just hope that a lot of things… or just to keep doing the right things for, I don’t know, the next, I don’t know, five, 10 years, just [for] our rivalry to [be at] the same table as those players.’