{"id":401017,"date":"2024-06-08T09:45:07","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T09:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=401017"},"modified":"2024-06-08T10:04:39","modified_gmt":"2024-06-08T10:04:39","slug":"greats-prediction-for-new-next-level-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=401017","title":{"rendered":"Great's prediction for new 'next level' rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian tennis great John Fitzgerald believes Jannik Sinner may hold the long-term edge over Carlos Alcaraz despite losing to the Spanish sensation in the French Open semi-finals on Saturday.<\/a><\/p>\n

Alcaraz \ufeffprevailed 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3<\/a> over the Italian in an enthralling contest that lasted more than four hours.<\/p>\n

He will meet Germany's Alexander Zverev in the final but it is the Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry that many feel will dominate world tennis for the remainder of the decade at least.<\/p>\n

Watch Roland-Garros 2024 live and exclusively free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Plus four courts in 4K UHD on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, the home of grand slam tennis<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/p>\n

Alcaraz is \ufeff21 and Sinner is 22.<\/p>\n

"These two young guns, I think we will see for a decade; they will play each other numerously," Fitzgerald said on Stan Sport's Grand Slam Daily<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"They are two players that are going to be etched into our memories for a long time to come. They are both young bulls. They're going to take the game forward to the next level. And they're both fantastic characters, which is even a bigger bonus."<\/p>\n

LIVE COVERAGE:<\/strong> Super Rugby Pacific Saturday quarter-finals<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1799137123905445940?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Alcaraz is now the youngest man to reach a grand glam title match on three surfaces.<\/p>\n

He won championships at the US Open in 2022 on hard courts and at Wimbledon in 2023 on grass.<\/p>\n

"I watch Alcaraz and he's got so much flair, sometimes maybe he tries to use too much of it," Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/p>\n

"I would argue that over time, sometimes that can cost you a few matches. I saw it at the Australian Open. He was almost faultless.<\/p>\n

"He played some of the best tennis I've ever seen but then he lost because he continued to play these shots that are a little bit low percentage. Sometimes it costs him.<\/p>\n

"On the clay, though, he has more time to use that flair, to hit the drop shot more often and to use all of the court.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1799123639582732496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"Sinner, on the other hand, is more probably a bit more solid, doesn't go for quite as much flair. That may well win him more majors in the long run. It remains to be seen."<\/p>\n

Sinner won his first \ufeffgrand slam title at the Australian Open this year.<\/p>\n

This will be the first French Open men's final without Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer since 2004.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Djokovic was the defending champion in Paris, but he withdrew before the quarter-finals after tearing the meniscus in his right knee and had surgery this week.<\/p>\n

Because he failed to get back to the final, he will drop from atop the ATP rankings, allowing Sinner to rise a spot from No.2, despite his defeat.<\/p>\n

Djokovic is now racing the clock to be fit for Wimbledon on July 1.<\/p>\n

\"Djokovic<\/p>\n

"Only Novak knows what that knee feels like," Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n

"I've had a torn meniscus before, it's been shaven out. I know the technology's better these days than it used to be.<\/p>\n

"But three weeks is not a long time and this is not a perfect preparation. He was No.1 in the world though, until a couple of days ago, and there's an argument to say he's still the best grass-court player in the world. In fact, he is.<\/p>\n

"So if he's fully fit, he starts favourite for me. But if he's not fully fit, anything can happen. And we won't know until the tournament starts.\ufeff"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian tennis great John Fitzgerald believes Jannik Sinner may hold the long-term edge over Carlos Alcaraz despite losing to the Spanish sensation in the French […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":401019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=401017"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401023,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401017\/revisions\/401023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/401019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=401017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=401017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=401017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}