Toni Nadal Suggests Jannik Sinner will be Happy About Carlos Alcaraz’s Extended Sideline

Carlos Alcaraz announced on Tuesday (May 19) that he will not play at the Queen’s Club Championships and Wimbledon Championships. This now means the Spaniard will be out of the tour for at least four months this season, while Jannik Sinner continues to flourish as the dominant player in the men’s circuit.

Alcaraz has not played a competitive match since beating Otto Virtanen in the first round of the French Open in April. The Spaniard twisted his arm while trying to win a point during the match, and although he continued with the tie, he withdrew from the tournament after scan results revealed that it was a serious injury.

He withdrew from Madrid, Rome, and the French Open and recently announced that he’s still recovering from the injury, so he will have to be away from the court longer than usual, which will see him skip the entirety of the grass-court season. For the player, who was close to reclaiming his World No.1 position, it doesn’t look good now as Sinner has extended the gap at the top of the ATP rankings.

Sinner has also won the Madrid Open and Italian Open in his absence. The Italian star has not lost a match since February and recently claimed his fifth Masters 1000 title of the season in Rome. Currently, he’s the favorite to win the French Open for the first time in the absence of defending champion Alcaraz at the tournament.

Sinner looks unbeatable at the moment with no likely challenger emerging in the men’s circuit. Novak Djokovic has played just three tournaments this year and doesn’t have many matches under his sleeve to compete against the Italian star at the Roland Garros.

In an interview with MARCA, Toni Nadal admitted that even though players do not like it when their rivals get injured, Sinner will actually be happy in the case, as it gives him a chance to continue winning:

Jannik Sinner isn’t as brilliant as Carlos Alcaraz, but he’s more consistent, he has everything. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to beat Sinner, or even to have a chance of troubling him… what Sinner is doing is extraordinary. Nobody is happy about a teammate’s injury, but when your rival is absent, you’re happy, that’s normal; without Alcaraz, everyone’s chances of winning increase.

Should Alcaraz return during the North American swing, it will take a long time for him to get to his best form on tour. However, several former players have called on him to change his tour schedule and not be forced to return from injury until he is in his best physical shape, and missing Wimbledon is a big blow to the sport as well.

Toni Nadal analyzes the difference between the current generation of tennis and the previous one

The current dominance between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz has had many critics. It has been pointed out on many occasions that other players on tour seem to lack the drive to compete with the two best players. But that cannot be said during the Big 3 era. The likes of Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, and Juan Martin Del Potro challenged the Big 3, winning Grand Slams.

This generation of stars in the ATP has left the men’s circuit to be predictable, participating in Grand Slam tournaments. For the past nine Slams on tour, either Sinner or Alcaraz has claimed it. During the aforementioned interview, Toni Nadal revealed that, currently, it looks hard for Sinner to lose a match, but that was not the case during the 2000s:

Ferrer, Berdych, Del Potro, Murray… never stopped fighting in matches against Djokovic, Federer or Nadal… now that has been lost a bit. It’s getting harder and harder to beat Sinner, to have the chance to put him in trouble…what Sinner is doing is extraordinary.

Sinner has won 51 of his last 53 matches on tour, which is remarkable in terms of achievement but also starkly reflects the current competitiveness on the men’s tour. Should Sinner have been in the Big 3 era, one of the top 10 players would have beaten him, or he would have pushed to his limits, but since March, he has dropped just three sets.

Also Read: Mats Wilander Says the ATP is Becoming Boring Due to Carlos Alcaraz’s Absence