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Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner - Indian Wells 2024, Roger Federer - Shanghai Masters 2023

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner predicted to win ‘multiple Slams’ by Roger Federer


Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have been backed as the next ‘superstars’ of the ATP Tour by Roger Federer, ahead of their Indian Wells semi-final later today.

Alcaraz will take on Sinner at the semi-final stage in California for a second consecutive year, with the winner claiming the No.2 ranking after the tournament.

And Federer mentioned both players when speaking about the future of the sport to GQ, “I don’t like to put the pressure on these players because honestly aiming for 20 [Grand Slam titles] was not something I did, Rafa [Nadal] did, or Novak [Djokovic] did.”

The former No.1 continued: “Of course you have the players that you think are going to win multiple Slams. Somebody has to win Slams and naturally they’re going to win them nicely and do it perfectly and they’re going to be the ones carrying the game and become the superstars of our sport, which some are already announcing themselves to do: Alcaraz, Sinner, and so forth.

“And there’s a lot of momentum right now also to see who’s going to be the next guy. So I think the next two to three years, they’re going to give us a really good idea because I think there are good players right now, but I still think they are recalibrating their game to understand: Okay, how can I beat the best in the business on their best surface?”

Alcaraz is bidding to become the first man to defend the Indian Wells title since Novak Djokovic in 2016, whereas Sinner is defending a 19-match winning streak.

Inside the baseline…

It is difficult to argue any other players should be in the same conversation as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner when speaking about the future of the sport, with maybe only Holger Rune getting close. Roger Federer knows talent when he sees it, so it is nice to see that he has the same belief in both Alcaraz and Sinner that the majority of tennis fans do. Their Indian Wells semi-final will be very intriguing, with it perhaps being the first time that Sinner is the favourite to win despite having the advantage in the head-to-head over Alcaraz.


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Carlos Alcaraz vs Jannik Sinner

With Alcaraz and Sinner being labelled as the potential future superstars of the sport by Federer, we at Tennishead wanted to compare some of their various achievements:

Player  Career-high Ranking Number of titles Grand Slam titles Masters 1000 titles Davis Cup titles ATP Finals Best Result
Carlos Alcaraz No.1 12 2 (US Open 2022 & Wimbledon 2023) 4 (Miami 2022, Madrid 2022 & 2023, Indian Wells 2023) Semi-final (2023)
Jannik Sinner No.3 12 1 (Australian Open 2024) 1 (Toronto 2023) 1 (2023) Final (2023)

Head-to-head

Alcaraz vs Sinner: 3-4

Last meeting: Sinner beat Alcaraz, 7-6(4) 6-1 (Beijing Semi-final 2023)

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Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He's a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he's also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.