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Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz - Shanghai Masters 2024
ATP Tennis Players, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Tennis News

Jannik Sinner ‘is better’ than Carlos Alcaraz claims former Wimbledon champion


Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have been backed to ‘dominate’ the ATP Tour by Goran Ivanisevic, who also believes that the Italian is the stronger player.

Sinner and Alcaraz have shared out the four Grand Slam titles this year, but it is the former who has been more impressive on the ATP Tour, enabling him to end the year as World No.1 for the first time.

Ivanisevic previously coached Novak Djokovic for over four years until March this year, with the Croatian still backing the 37-year-old as ‘the best in the world’, despite the Serbian going without a Grand Slam title this year for the first time since 2017.

“When Novak really wants to play, he is still the best in the world, in my opinion,” Ivanisevic told Tennis Majors. “The other thing is how much he wants to play and when. We saw at the Olympics – if he goes out on the court like that, then he can still win a Slam. Can Novak do it? Yes, he can. You can never write him off, I would never do that.”

Sinner has only lost seven of his 73 matches this year, while Alcaraz has a slightly worse record having lost 10 of his 57 matches in the 2024 season.

With this in mind, Ivanisevic has suggested that he believes Sinner has a higher peak level than Alcaraz, “They’re different players, but when they are both at their best, I feel that Sinner is better [than Alcaraz].

“He is more consistent throughout the match, whereas Alcaraz can go from hitting amazing shots to some easy errors. This year, Carlos had a few losses I couldn’t explain.”

Despite backing Sinner over Alcaraz, Ivanisevic expects both players to dominate the future of the ATP Tour, dismissing current World No.2 Alexander Zverev.

“Zverev has too many ups and downs,” claimed the 2001 Wimbledon champion. “He plays great up until some point, then comes a match where he really needs to put it together, where he needs to perform at his best – that’s when he fails, and against Alcaraz and Sinner, you need to be at your best always.

“If we move Novak out of the equation, they [Sinner and Alcaraz] will dominate.”

Sinner, Alcaraz and Zverev will all compete at the upcoming ATP Finals, but Djokovic will not be there after he announced his withdrawal from the year-end tournament earlier today.

Inside the baseline…

It is hard to argue that anyone other than Jannik Sinner has been the best player this year, winning two Grand Slams, three Masters 1000 crowns and two ATP 500 events in 2024. However Goran Ivanisevic’s reasoning is interesting, as many would argue that Carlos Alcaraz’s peak is higher than anyone else, but Sinner has the more consistent game. It is hard to see anyone challenging them two at the moment, but with Sinner’s doping case appeal still pending it could enable a potential opportunity to open up for Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and others.

READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic withdraws from the ATP Finals due to ‘ongoing injuries’

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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.