Carlos Alcaraz openly admitted recently that Jannik Sinner is the better player right now, and he has a lot of catching up to do.
The Spaniard didn't say anything we didn't know before, but seeing him utter the words openly was interesting. In the last six months or so, Sinner won an ATP Masters 1000 trophy; he led his country to the Davis Cup trophy, won a couple of smaller events, and played in the ATP Finals.
That was last year, and this year, he's added two more trophies, one of which is the Australian Open trophy, his maiden Grand Slam. In the same timeframe, Alcaraz didn't make a single final.
He nearly made one last week in Buenos Aires but got beaten by Nicolas Jarry. It was a devastating loss for the Spaniard, who lamented about it after the match.
His coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, urged him to work really hard because right now, he's falling behind Sinner, who is arguably the best player in the world right now.
He understands that and admitted it to MARCA in a recent interview, where he also praised Sinner for stepping up in such a meaningful way because it's very good for tennis.
"I'm not surprised because he's [Jannik Sinner is] a hard worker. If I want to match his level, I have to work hard because right now he's the one who's better. It's good for tennis that there's another young player like him who wins Grand Slams."
Alcaraz will have a chance to redeem himself in Rio de Janeiro this week, but we won't really see them head-to-head until the Sunshine Double.
Those are the first events that will have both of them in the draw, so we'll see who will be ahead by the time they come around. 2024 is a hugely important year for both of them.
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