Spanish world No.3 Carlos Alcaraz knows he will be up against it when he faces world No.1 and second seed for the tournament Jannik Sinner in the French Open semifinals today.
The winner of their semifinal will cross swords with the victor of today’s other last-four match between fourth-seed German Alexander Zverev and seventh-seed Norwegian Casper Ruud in Sunday’s finale.
The latter got a free pass in the quarterfinals, after top seed Novak Djokovic pulled out of the tournament because of a knee injury.
It’s the match between Italian Sinner, 22, and the big-hitting Alcaraz, 21, that will grab everyone’s attention though.
Following his quarterfinal win over Stefanos Tsitsipas - a match which saw the Greek ace complain about Alcaraz’s extended grunting, which he claims is too long and breaks his attention when lining up to play a shot - Alcaraz says Sinner is the “best in the world”.
The Spaniard explains: “I think right now he’s the best player in the world, the player who’s playing the best tennis right now.
Carlos Alcaraz reporting for duty 👍![CDATA[]]>🫡#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/gCgamIsQKe
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 7, 2024
“We’ve played great matches, high level. I’m grateful to have him on the tour, at this level because he pushes me to be my best level…
“It’s going to be a really good challenge, I’m ready for that challenge. It’s the match that everybody wants to watch.”
In the women’s draw, No.1 seed Iga Swiatek will meet the winner of last night’s semifinal between Jasmine Paolini and Mirra Andreeva in Sunday’s decider, after she beat Coco Gauff 6-2 and 6-4 on Thursday.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za