Carlos Alcaraz Surprised by Jannik Sinner’s Presence in Monte Carlo: “He’s Capable of Winning Everywhere”

Carlos Alcaraz arrives for the Monte Carlo Masters as the defending champion. The Spaniard is seeking to win the championship for the second consecutive time in his career, but he’s already looking over his shoulder at Jannik Sinner, who just excellently completed the Sunshine Doubles last month.

The Monte Carlo Masters is the only non-mandatory ATP Masters 1000 event on the men’s tour. That gives players a chance to rest after the Sunshine Double and then prepare better for the European clay-court swing. Several players, including Arthur Fils, Ben Shelton, and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, have already taken advantage of the opportunity.

In fact, Alcaraz’s coach, Samuel Lopez, revealed last week that if the Spaniard had won the Miami Open, he would have withdrawn from the Monte Carlo Masters. But Alcaraz crashed out in Miami in the third round, which gives him more time to rest, practice, and smoothly transition from hard court to clay.

However, Sinner is not taking a well-deserved break after playing three weeks in the North American hard-court swing. This might seem like a dangerous move, as fatigue could set in during the event, but the Italian star understands that if he wins the Monte Carlo Masters and Alcaraz doesn’t reach the final, he will become World No.1.

Alcaraz is defending 1,000 points at the tournament and holds just 1,190 points above Sinner at the top of the ATP rankings. On the other hand, Sinner doesn’t have any points to defend as he didn’t play at the tournament last year. Speaking during an interview with Sky Sports, Alcaraz admitted that he’s surprised Sinner is competing at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monaco:

Honestly, I was surprised that Jannik, after the Indian Wells and Miami tour, came to play in Monte Carlo. But obviously, this shows what he is capable of doing right now. Hopefully, we can play here in Monte Carlo. Who knows? This year, we didn’t even play one time yet. Hopefully, it happens in clay season.

Despite Sinner being in a much better form than Alcaraz at the moment, the former has not won a clay title since 2022. Also, he holds a 71 percent winning rate on the surface and has been to just two finals on clay in the past two years. Apart from that, Sinner is known to play his best tennis on a hard court rather than clay.

Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t want to feel like the defending champion at the Monte Carlo Masters

Carlos Alcaraz had one of the best clay-court seasons of his career last year when he reached the final of all five tournaments he played. The Spaniard claimed four of the championships, finishing as runners-up at the Barcelona Open after losing to Holger Rune. He has the opportunity to replicate the same form this season.

But he has to prove that at the Monte Carlo Masters, a tournament he won for the first time last year. During his press conference at the event, he admitted that he’s happy to be back at Monte Carlo, but doesn’t think about the fact that he’s the defending champion as he doesn’t want to add much pressure on himself:

I’m just really, really happy to be back here in Monte Carlo, the first tournament of the clay season, at least for me, which is great. I just missed it so much to be honest. I’m going to try to enjoy as much as I can this beautiful surface, this beautiful tournament. It’s great.To be here as the defending champion, it’s something that I’m just not thinking about to be honest. I’m just trying to be in a good [mindset] and trying to get better after every practice.

Last season, Alcaraz started with an early clay-court triumph after back-to-back defeats at the Sunshine Double. He won the Monte Carlo Masters, which marked the start of a streak of 33 wins in 34 matches.

Also Read: Juan Carlos Ferrero Admits Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open Win Over Jannik Sinner ‘Surprised’ Him

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