Carlos Alcaraz has beaten Jannik Sinner four times already, but even so, he's always nervous when he plays him.
Fans have been blessed with some tremendous rivalries in tennis, especially in the past 10 to 15 years. Some of the greatest rivalries ever in sport happened in tennis, and if the matchups between Alcaraz and Sinner are anything to go by, that won't change in the coming years.
This matchup is crystalizing itself as one of the up-and-coming rivalries in tennis, and it's going to be great, judging by how the two play. They've played several great matches, and it's always pretty competitive, so maybe that's why Alcaraz always gets nervous before their matches.
Speaking after beating Sinner at the Indian Wells Open, Alcaraz admitted that he does feel nervous when playing Sinner because he knows that he'll have to play his best to win the match.
"Every time that I'm gonna face Jannik I'm going to get nervous. That's for sure. Because I know that I have to play him 100% if I want to beat him. But yeah, doesn't get me nervous the facts of that I am behind in head-to-head. It give me extra motivation to give my 100% just to beat him in that head-to-head."
The most recent match they played was a proper roller coaster. Sinner outplayed Alcaraz in the opening set, but the Spaniard found his best level after that and outplayed Sinner in the next two sets to win the match.
It was a pretty remarkable turnaround by a player who struggled with confidence lately. In the final of the 2024 Indian Wells Open, Alcaraz will take on Daniil Medvedev, and given he beat him last year in the final, he may be a bit less nervous.
"You know, I try to play my best every match against him, to be able to catch him. I think I did it. We are equals right now, if I'm not wrong. So the next time that I'm going to face him, I'm not gonna think about I'm battling that."
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