Carlos Alcaraz has named Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner as the players to beat as he makes his tennis comeback at the 2024 Argentina Open.
We're almost half a year removed from the last time the Spaniard truly contested for trophies. It was at Wimbledon in 2023, and Alcaraz had just won his second Grand Slam title.
Many assumed that it was the moment the torch was being passed, but it wasn't. Alcaraz was kind of disappointed at the US Open a few months after that, while Novak Djokovic won another Grand Slam trophy.
The end of the 2023 season wasn't that good for Alcaraz, and neither was the start of the next one. He seems to be in a regression phase, but we'll see how he does in the coming weeks.
He's back on clay in South America, and ahead of that event, he talked about his main rivals, who have been Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner for a while now.
"I think Djokovic and Sinner are the rivals to beat, there is no doubt, both for me and for everyone. Zverev also has the winning H2H against me, he is a rival that I have very much in mind, but I do think that Djokovic and Sinner are at the top right now."
There have been some raised eyebrows over Alcaraz's play in recent months, but he's hopeful that the upcoming weeks will go better. He had a slow start last year, too, but used the clay season in South America as a launching pad for the Sunshine Double stretch, and it proved to be a very good decision.
We'll see how it goes this year, but he'll need to step up if he hopes to challenge the named rivals seriously in the coming months. Right now, he's clearly behind both of them.
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