Carlos Alcaraz Gives Honest Verdict On Jannik Sinner's Three-Month Doping Ban
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Carlos Alcaraz spoke about Jannik Sinner's three-month suspension ahead of the 2025 Qatar Open in Doha.
Alcaraz was supposed to meet with Sinner already at the Rotterdam Open, but the Italian player withdrew from that event. That decision was made because he was too exhausted after the Australian Open, and since the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam was moved to an earlier week, he couldn't commit to it the same way he did last year.
After Sinner's withdrawal, Alcaraz was able to win the title in Rotterdam. But only a couple of weeks after the Spaniard's win in the Netherlands, the two young stars were set to meet again, this time in Doha.
Both signed up to compete at the 2025 Qatar Open, but shortly before the tournament started, it was announced that Sinner accepted a three-month suspension in an agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
That means the ATP World No. 1 player won't compete in Doha. Alcaraz will avoid his biggest rival, but he doesn't seem to be too concerned by that. Ahead of the event, he spoke to the Spanish publication Sport, and when asked about Sinner, Alcaraz said he was focused on himself.
"The truth is there’s little to say. Whether he is there or not doesn’t influence us. We remain focused on us and our goals."
With Sinner now unable to compete for three months, the Italian player will lose the points he earned during the upcoming part of the season last year, and he also won't have a chance to add any more points.
On the other hand, Alcaraz will have a chance to win plenty of points, so he will have a real shot at becoming the World No. 1 player again.
But when asked about whether that goal was made easier with Sinner's suspension, the 21-year-old Spaniard again maintained that he is focused only on himself when chasing his goals and not the misfortune of his rivals.
"The number one is always a goal. As I said, him not being there doesn't change anything for us. We are trying to get better at what we do and focused on continuing to work to get to number one."
However, that wasn't the approach he had only when asked about Sinner. When Alcaraz was asked about Novak Djokovic, he again provided a very similar response.
The four-time Grand Slam champion admitted that it doesn't matter to him who plays at the events he attends as he focuses on playing his best tennis.
"It doesn't change. It's the same tournament. In all tournaments there are great players. The fact that Djokovic may or may not be there really doesn't influence me at all."
"In the end I would face him in the semifinals. Meanwhile, we approach the tournament in the same way. We focus on ourselves and trying to do the things we have in mind."
