Celebrated as a playground- and tax haven- for the rich and famous, Monte Carlo epitomizes decadence.
That made it the ideal host for this year’s first competitive Sinneraz match (Djokovic spoilt the tantalizing prospect of a 4th successive Grand Slam final clash in Melbourne). Despite Alcaraz’s recent Grand Slam ascendancy, Sinner had the opportunity to usurp the Spaniard as World No.1. And he did it in emphatic fashion, overcoming blustery conditions to triumph 7-6, 6-3. Sinner has bounced back terrifically from an uncharacteristically poor start to the campaign and will be chasing his own piece of history in his next Masters event (whether that be in Madrid or Rome).
The match itself
The final isn’t going to enter the pantheon (as so many of their recent encounters have). The conditions were like something out of a 90’s disaster film, with swirling winds forcing both players to adapt their games. Who could have possibly predicated a combined 83 unforced errors between these two over the course of a two-set match? Sinner’s serve- though obviously neutered a bit on some of the slowest clay-courts on tour- ultimately proved the difference. He was able to pick up some monster first-serves in that first-set tiebreak, heaping the pressure on Alcaraz. He consistently threatened Alcaraz’s serve more than the other way around. It was just his 2nd clay-court victory over Alcaraz (the first coming at the decidedly less glittering Umag final in 2022).
Sinner on the brink of history
It would have been easy for Sinner to go into a cocoon of self-pity after that Aussie Open defeat to Djokovic. Losing to Mensik in Qatar suggested that he may in fact be primed for a natural dip. But the Italian has pooh-poohed all those silly notions, using the elite Masters events to reestablish his dominance. Sure, he would switch all three of this year’s Masters title for one more slam. But he has turned the usually cutthroat Masters circuit into his personal piggybank, winning the last four titles (losing just one set in this year’s three wins). In fact, victory in his next Masters 1000 tournament will see him become the first man in history to win five successive events at this level (not even Djokovic could pull that off). That would be quite something given the existence of a certain seven-time Grand Slam winning Spaniard.
Short and Sweet
I personally think that Sinner- with his mammoth serve and robotic, repetitive gameplan- is always going to have a slight edge in best-of-three set tennis. The matches can easily run away from you against Sinner in this format, with his improving serve making it next to impossible to get an easy foothold in matches. Lehecka really played brilliantly against Sinner in that Miami final. However, the Italian won 18 straight points on serve at one point, negating the Czech’s otherwise sterling work. Grand Slam tennis gives Alcaraz- more an artist by nature- the time to feel his way into a match and decode the machine. The longer a match goes on, the more chance of a robotic malfunction.
A fluid race for No.1
Fans of Sinner shouldn’t get overly sentimental about his No.1 ranking, as Alcaraz has the chance to regain the ranking with victory in this week’s Barcelona event. I don’t know if I can ever remember the No.1 ranking seesawing with such regularity during the ‘Big Three’ era. It’s like watching an old-school WWE match, where each ‘fighter’ has five minutes of carefully scripted dominance before the other guy turns the corner. Madrid could turn out to be quite consequential, as neither Alcaraz nor Sinner have points to defend. Reports suggest that Sinner may opt to skip Madrid to rehabilitate ahead of the Rome-Roland Garros double-bill. Provided Alcaraz wins Barcelona, victory in Madrid could give him a real opportunity to create some breathing room ahead of the last two clay-court titles of the season (both of which he won last year).
