'Can knock you off balance': Mats Wilander highlights reason behind Jannik Sinner's struggles against Carlos Alcaraz

Former world number one Mats Wilander has highlighted the reason behind Italy’s Jannik Sinner’s recent struggles against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. Both are already regarded as two of the best players in men’s tennis in the singles category.

Sinner, who is currently the top-ranked player in the world, has been exceptional on the court as he has won three out of the last five Grand Slams. While the 23-year-old has remained flawless against every player in the world, his record has not been the same against the current world number two, who has now won four matches against him in a row.

Their most recent meeting took place in the final of the Rome Open, where Alcaraz came out on top in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-1. Former world number one Wilander has recently spoken to Tennis 365, where he highlighted why the three-time Grand Slam winner has struggled only against Alcaraz but has remained untouchable against the others. The seven-time Grand Slam winner was of the opinion that Alcaraz’s pace in doing everything gives him the edge against Sinner. Wilander also believes that another reason why the young Spaniard has done exceptionally well against the reigning world number one is because of his ‘big forehand’, which can unsettle any opponent.

“The main reason why Sinner struggles against Alcaraz is he is so fast at doing everything,” said Wilander. “The other reason Jannik doesn’t like playing against him he has a big forehand and that can knock you off balance. That is too much for a lot of people, but Alacarz is so quick that he can get to a lot of the balls other players cannot reach. When Sinner has a forehand and time to hit it, the other players have to guess left or right to have a chance to get it. Carlos doesn’t have that problem so much as he is super fast. I was in the front row watching their Rome final a few weeks back and for the first half an hour it looked like Alcaraz was struggling to hang with Sinner. Then he started to absorb the power coming at him and found a way to swing it in his favour. Okay, Sinner could have won the first set of that match and it could have been a different result, but you could see that Alcaraz was getting used to absorbing the pace and when he then got Jannik doing things he didn’t want to do, the match turned in his favour.”