Carlos Alcaraz was the more successful player every time he faced Jannik Sinner in 2024, but he dismissed the importance of that record ahead of the Paris Masters.
The two young rivals will likely dominate the sport for the years to come. Many former players, pundits, and even current players have recognized this in the past few months, and their Grand Slam record this year only proves that.
Alcaraz and Sinner split all four majors this year, with the Spaniard winning the Roland Garros and Wimbledon, while his Italian rival triumphed at the Australian Open and the US Open.
However, every time they faced each other in an official Tour-level match, Alcaraz was the more successful player. He beat him in the Indian Wells Open semi-final. Alcaraz also won in their Roland Garros meeting, and he was also victorious in the China Open final this month.
So far, he has a perfect 3-0 record against Sinner in 2024, even though he lost to him once already. They met in the 2024 Six Kings Slam final, with Sinner winning in three sets. However, that wasn't an official match that would count towards the official statistics or award any points.
Despite beating his rival all three times, Alcaraz is more than 4,000 points behind the Italian in the ATP Rankings, as Sinner already secured the year-end No. 1 position.
Both arrived to the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season with high expectations, and prior to the tournament, Alcaraz sounded really confident, and he has a reason to be.
"Well, I had just a practice here, one in the center court and then in the practice court. So I felt a little bit difference between those two. Really, really fast."
"Honestly, I didn't expect that fast, but yeah, I think I'm ready for tomorrow's match. I think I'm playing great. Have a lot of confidence. So excited to start the tournament."
The young Spaniard was then also asked about his rival. That was before Sinner announced his withdrawal from the Paris Masters.
Alcaraz was asked about beating the Italian three times, but he dismissed the importance of that, as obviously, Sinner was the more successful player in matches against other opponents, which is highlighted in his current World No. 1 ranking.
"It doesn't matter that I have beaten Jannik three times. Probably, I didn't play good tennis in some tournaments. You know, my percentage of win this year is really, really high, but Jannik is another level this year (smiling), so over the 91% of wins this year."
"I think every players are looking for being more consistently during the year. You know, in every tournament that you're going to play, you want to go far or as farther as you can."
Alcaraz is aware of the fact that while he was better when he had to face Sinner, he had tournaments where he wasn't very successful, and that was mostly because he failed to stay consistent throughout the year. That's something he would want to improve in 2025.
"That's my goal the next year. You know, in the tournaments that I didn't play well or I didn't go as far as I wanted, just try to do it. You know, I will try to not lose in the first rounds that probably this year I have lost in the first rounds."