“They’ll Knock You Down,” Jimmy Connors Advises Jannik Sinner to Be ‘Careful’ After Defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in French Open Final

Carlos Alcaraz will be bidding to win his sixth title of the season at Wimbledon where he will be playing as the defending champion.

“They’ll Knock You Down,” Jimmy Connors Advises Jannik Sinner to Be ‘Careful’ After Defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in French Open Final

Jannik Sinner, Jimmy Connors, Carlos Alcaraz (Image via WSJ, X/ATP Tour)

Both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are at Wimbledon, where they could meet in the final. If this happens, then for the second time, the two young rivals will face each other in a Grand Slam final. The first was at the French Open. Sinner made it to the championship of this tournament for the first time. Alcaraz was playing as the defending champion.

En route to the final, Sinner was breezing past opponents one after the other until he met 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinal. Though the match ended in favor of Sinner in straight sets, he had to toil hard to knock out the Serb.

Then in the final, Sinner with great efforts, took a 2-0 lead but the Spaniard tried to force a comeback. In the fourth set, Sinner had three championship points but Alcaraz was successful in saving all, and eventually went on to win this and the following set through the tie-breakers, defending his title and becoming the third youngest man to win five Grand Slam titles after Bjorn Borg and his idol Rafael Nadal.

Next, after some time off, both the players headed to Halle and London to play their first grass-court tournament. Sinner failed to defend his title in the German city, but Alcaraz lifted the Queen’s Club Championships for the second time in his career. It was his fourth title on grass.

Wimbledon starts on June 30. Ahead of the tournament, former player Jimmy Connors advised the Italian to not pay heed to the outside noise and instead focus on his work. He said on the Advantage Connors podcast:

There is a lot of talk about it and if you are not careful you can let that talk creep into your head. It would be better for him to put earplugs in and not listen to anybody, not read the press or listen to the press or listen to anything going on, and take care of his business. As quick as they are to build you up, they are even quicker to knock you down.

It was Alcaraz’s fifth consecutive victory over his arch-rival. He now leads 8-4 in the head-to-head record over the three-time Grand Slam champion.

David Goffin recalls the two times he defeated Carlos Alcaraz

David Goffin met Carlos Alcaraz for the first time in Melbourne back in 2021. The Belgian lost that match and at that time, he thought that either the youngster had a lucky day or he would turn into a superstar. The latter happened.

Carlos Alcaraz Roland Garros
Carlos Alcaraz (image via Roland Garros)

But despite that, it was Goffin who won their next two clashes. In Astana, they met in 2022 right after Alcaraz’s US Open triumph. In their third encounter, Goffin knocked him out in this year’s Miami Open opening round. The 34-year-old talked about these matches during an interview with Tennis365.

In my second match against Alcaraz, he had just won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open and he was maybe a little tired towards the end. Then I beat him in Miami this year and played an incredible match. It was his first match of the tournament and he was a little lacking in confidence. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore!

After his Miami Open exit, Alcaraz enjoyed a vacation in Cancun with his family and returned to tennis for the clay swing only to end it as the most successful player. The 22-year-old lifted three titles on the surface: the French Open and two Masters 1000s in Monte Carlo (beat Lorenzo Musetti) and Rome (beat Jannik Sinner).

At Wimbledon, Alcaraz will be playing as the two-time defending champion. Novak Djokovic was the player he defeated in the final of the grass-court Major in the last two seasons.

Also read: Roger Federer Reveals the Three Most Memorable Matches of his Illustrious Career