The world of men’s tennis is firmly rooted in the era of Sinner-Alcaraz but who is the better role model? Mats Wilander, who won seven grand slam titles in the 80’s gives his unique verdict: “Sinner is leading the way and will quickly serve as a role model, because not everyone can play tennis like Alcaraz. That requires extremely rare talent. On the other hand, everyone can try to play like Sinner, which doesn’t require exceptional talent in itself, but total dedication,” Wilander told L’Equipe.
Wilander then went on to rave about Sinner’s aggressive style of play.
“I’ve never seen anyone play tennis as aggressively as Sinner. It’s not that he hits everything that moves like a madman, it’s that he’s always looking to get the ball early. Some people hit it harder than him, but no one gets to the ball as quickly to play it on the rise, never waiting for it to come back down.”
Wilander said that Sinner’s game is 5-10 years ahead of what he had imagined the game of tennis would be at this stage.
“I think his tennis is five or ten years ahead of what I imagined the evolution of the game would be. A bit like when, in football, for the first time, there were quick one-touch passes: the speed of the game was turned upside down.
“He has improved more than Carlos over the last two years combined, which, consequently, also leaves the latter more room for improvement in the future, particularly in terms of choosing his shots better, sometimes. And yes, Jannik should have won at Roland Garros a month ago.
There, as here, he was the better player. It’s more the emotional or the motivational part that you have someone who is young, who wins basically everything. You have to be ready, no, if you want to keep up.”
Alcaraz had won Wimbledon for two years running, but a month after he defeated Sinner in a great match at French Open final, the Italian rebounded on grass by taking down Alcaraz in a four-setter to win his first Wimbledon title.
