Jannik Sinner is generally a very tough player to count, as he's usually very solid, but Carlos Alcaraz countered him pretty well in their most recent clash.
The Italian entered the 2024 Indian Wells Open semi-final against Alcaraz as the favorite, which was the first time that happened. He's beaten him before and after the opening set; he looked like the likely winner of this meeting as well.
The first-set score was a 6-1 win for Sinner, and he was in total control of the match. Things changed after that as Alcaraz was able to adjust to him, and Sinner was disarmed.
He didn't really come up with a new counter to what Alcaraz was doing, and the match slowly slipped away. He wasn't very happy with it after the match, admitting that he became too predictable, which cost him the match in his mind.
"He's moving really, really fast, as we know. Especially on this court where the ball bounces really high, it's not easy to play against him, because he can play with a lot of spin."
"But what I have missed today that I was too predictable at some points. You know, I was doing the same things over and over again, which in my mind let me down."
It's pretty fascinating to see players discuss their tactics in tennis because the sport is very tactical. It might seem simple for those watching, but players are always doing small things to counter what each other is doing.
It's very much like chess in that way, and this time, Alcaraz was simply better at that than Sinner. The more they play, the more interesting the rivalry becomes because they know each other really well, and there are very few surprises.
The less surprises the smaller the margins of victory making the matches more interesting, and that's what created every great rivalry.