Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner delivered a spectacular final at the recently concluded China Open 2024. The Spaniard ultimately won 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(3), winning the last 7 points of the match in a row. But both players showed a very high level and received numerous awards.
Like Mats Wilander, for example, who seems to be suffering from contemporary culture and has somewhat forgotten the level that Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have achieved. The Swede had no qualms about saying that Alcaraz and Sinner, when at their best, are the best they’ve ever seen.
“When Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are at their best, no one has ever played better tennis. They put on such a great and entertaining show. For me it is one of the best sporting events of all time. It happens every time they play. They provide They provide excitement, they provide entertainment. What you see with them is that the match can go either way.”
“Each of them can win. Neither of them is intimidated by the other. There are fluctuations in their matches, like in any other tennis match, but they don’t last long. They last five or ten minutes at most, and then the other one comes back and do something, and they’re back on top, following in the footsteps of the Big Three in terms of level.”
“I hope Roger, Novak and Rafa aren’t listening, but when Sinner and Alcaraz are at their best, there is no way that anyone has played better tennis, that the ball has done more different, complicated and difficult things than he has between Sinner and Alcaraz.”
“Carlos Alcaraz is the same person he has been for the last three or four years. He is a diamond in the rough. Sometimes he is very, very polished. Sometimes he is a diamond in the rough.”
“Jannik Sinner makes these games more interesting for me because he has become more complete, he plays more variedly, he dares to take a drop shot every now and then, sometimes he goes to the net. So the surprises come from both sides of the net.”
“I hope, [Alcaraz] doesn’t change. I hope he doesn’t polish his game too much because that’s what makes it so interesting.”
There is “no way anyone has ever played better tennis” than Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at their peak, according to former world No 1 Mats Wilander.
