Jannik Sinner on Carlos Alcaraz defeat: ‘It’s part of my growing process’

Jannik Sinner feels the loss against Carlos Alcaraz is part of his growing process. The Italian suffered a five-set loss against the Spaniard in the semifinals of the Roland Garros on Friday. 

The Australian Open champion was leading by two sets to one but lost the last two sets against the two-time Grand Slam champion. Alcaraz came up with his best and won the match in four hours and 10 minutes.

“I think it was a great match. For sure the sets he won he played better in the important points. I think that was the key. Obviously disappointed how it ended, but it’s part of my growing and the process,” Sinner said. “Thinking back before the tournament reaching this point, I’m obviously very happy.

“In the other way, I’m disappointed about the match today. Now I’m just to keep looking forward to improve, to try to do my best I can and then we see what I can do in the future here in this tournament. If we watch the positive side, I have improved from last year.”

Meanwhile, Sinner will rise to the number one position in the PIF ATP rankings and feels the rivalry with Alcaraz is good for the game. The Spaniard was able to improve the ATP H2H by 5-4 against his rival.

“If we watch the results, we always or most likely play against [each other] in the semis or final or quarters, [in] very important matches. I think that’s exciting for the game, especially when head-to-head is quite close,” Sinner said. “And the winner is happy and then the loser tries to find a way to beat him the next time. I think that’s exciting. That’s what I will try to do.

“I think we study each other very well. You can see a little bit of tension sometimes of both players and both sides just because we know each other slowly a little bit better. Each time when we play against [each other] we expect a couple of things and then to mix up the plan, you make different choices sometimes on the court. I think next time obviously is going to be different.”

Sinner had to miss the Italian Open due to a hip injury but he suffered a cramp in the third set against Alcaraz.

“For sure, some tension. Tension and after cramp a little bit,” Sinner said of his on-court issues. “I handled these situations a little bit better now. I had previous years these kind of moments where I couldn’t handle them. If we watch that, I handled them a little bit better. It was quite early in the match. We didn’t play so much, so I was not worried about my body. Was keeping up quite well.”