Carlos Alcaraz did not agree with Jannik Sinner’s assessment of where he went wrong in the US Open final. The young Italian was beaten in four sets by his Spanish rival, who played some of his best tennis to win his sixth major title. It was their third meeting in as many Grand Slam finals, having faced each other at the French Open and Wimbledon earlier this year.
Alcaraz made a fast start to proceedings, storming ahead by winning the first set in just over 20 minutes. Sinner battled back to draw level in set two but it was one-way traffic from then on, with Alcaraz turning on the style to claim a 6-2 3-6 6-1 6-4 victory. After the match, Sinner suggested that he was beaten because his game was too predictable.
He even claimed that he would be happy to lose more matches so that he can learn from his mistakes and keep improving as a player.
“I was very predictable today, you know, on court in the way he did many things, he changed up the game,” said Sinner.
“That’s also his style of how he plays. Now it’s going to be on me if I want to make changes or not, you know? That’s definitely… we are going to work on that.
“I’m trying to be more prepared for the next match I will play against him. It also, I feel like, depends how you arrive to play against Carlos.
“You know, one thing is when the scoreline, you know, matches before are comfortable but you always do the same things, like I did, for example, during this tournament.
“I didn’t make one serve-volley, didn’t use a lot of drop shots, and then you arrive to a point where you play against Carlos where you have to go out of the comfort zone.
“So I’m going to aim to, you know, maybe even losing some matches from now on, but trying to do some changes, you know, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player, because I think that’s what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player.”
Alcaraz, however, disagreed that Sinner was too ‘predictable’ as he gave his own assessment of the 24-year-old’s performance.
“I wouldn’t say I read his game, that he was predictable, but I know him,” said the Spaniard. “It’s been so many matches against him. As he said, as well, he watches a lot of my matches just to study my game. I do the same. I watch a lot of his matches.
“First of all, because I love watching him play. I think it is unbelievable what he’s doing. Secondly, it’s because I love to study him, how he plays, how he feels on the tournaments just so if I played him in that tournament, just to have feedback how he’s been playing in the tournaments.
“I wouldn’t say he’s predictable, but I know his style. I know what he’s going to do or his main weapons in his game, so I just try to be focused on that.
“But, I mean, even though he could feel predictable, it’s really, really hard to maintain the level and playing long rallies against him.”
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