Toni Nadal Thinks Improvement of ‘This’ Can Help Jannik Sinner Beat Arch-Rival Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz, who has now become the third youngest man to win five Majors, has defeated Jannik Sinner five consecutive times.

Toni Nadal Thinks Improvement of ‘This’ Can Help Jannik Sinner Beat Arch-Rival Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz, Toni Nadal, Jannik Sinner (Image via X/The Tennis Letter, Olly Tennis, Jannik Sinner HQ)

Carlos Alcaraz now holds an 8-4 head-to-head lead over Jannik Sinner, whom he defeated in the finals of the last two clay-court tournaments. Sinner, after a three-month doping ban, made his comeback at the Italian Open but lost the match to the Spaniard in straight sets.

The World No.1 then progressed to the French Open final for the first time, following strong performances one after the other, handing his opponents bagels and breadsticks in the process. Sinner was tested for the first time in the clay-court Major when he played 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinal.

Somehow Sinner won that match in straight sets to secure a blockbuster final clash against Alcaraz in the final. They were pitted against each other in the final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

En route to the win, the World No.2 saved three championship points in the fourth set. It was Alcaraz’s fifth Grand Slam title and this made him the third youngest man to reach that tally after Bjorn Borg and the tournament’s most successful player, Rafael Nadal.

Sinner has now lost five consecutive matches against Alcaraz. What he must do to beat the 22-year-old? According to 14-time French Open’s uncle and former coach Toni Nadal, Sinner must improve his drop shots, which Alcaraz often incorporates during his matches. He told La Gazzetta dello Sport:

I speak as an outside observer, Sinner’s coaches know very well what needs to be worked on. He has a great serve, very powerful forehand, and backhand, and he is very solid. He could be more precise in the drop shots, and sometimes he is a bit in a hurry.

Before the final, Sinner won all of his matches in straights. But against his arch-rival, he dropped three sets before losing that epic match in five hours and 29 minutes, which has now become the longest French Open final in the history of tennis.

Toni Nadal shares what he thinks Jannik Sinner’s team should have done in the final

The French Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner was a tight affair from the very first set. Sinner somehow was successful in taking a 2-0 lead, before losing the third set.

Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz (2)
Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz (Image via X/Univers Tennis)

He still had the lead and capitalized on it by reaching match points. That was the turning point of the match because Alcaraz made an incredible comeback to not only win that set but take that match to the decider and through the tie-breaker, he wrapped it up in his favor. Toni Nadal thinks Sinner’s team should have urged him at match points to calm down. He told La Gazzetta dello Sport:

It was a very tough defeat. Jannik lacked a bit of calm in the most important moment. Maybe his box should have told him ‘Calm down!’ There was tension, Jannik was one step away from winning his fourth Slam, equalling Carlos.

After the French Open heartbreak, the three-time Grand Slam champion landed in Halle for the grass swing. He knocked out home favorite Yannick Hanfmann but ended up losing the second round to Alexander Bublik, who became the first player other than Alcaraz to beat Sinner since the Canadian Open last August.

Sinner, for the first time since that Canadian Open failed to reach a final. Also for the first time he didn’t reach a quarterfinal since his defeat to Ben Shelton in the 2023 Shanghai Masters. The Italian will next be preparing for Wimbledon where he never progressed to the championship match. He was the semifinalist in 2023 and was defeated in the quarterfinals last year by Daniil Medvedev.

Also read: Carlos Alcaraz Jokes About Singing Career After Jannik Sinner’s Opera Debut