At about nine o’clock at night in Melbourne, cast in black already in the city, Alexander Zverev falls on a railing while billing before taking the flight back to his residence. The German said the previous evening, after giving in the final of the Australia Open in front of Jannik Sinner 6-3, 7-6 (4) and 6-3, which does not want to end up becoming a racker Pursue the stigma that not a few would dream, but not, to “be the best in history that did not win a Grand Slam.” At the same time, the tennis player gave a defeatist speech as realistic: “I am not good enough, that simple.” On the other hand, it seems to be the Italian, who moments before the Zverev scene has billed all the hooded bargaining and trying not to be recognized, comfortable in that bubble that says he has designed his imagination to isolate himself from everything and concentrate only and exclusively in What occupies him: shake the ball.
It has a half year of dream and more than one entire course competing fantastically well, to the point that the well -founded suspicion increases that tennis may have found another chief of volume and loin. Manda since June and since September his deck has only drilled and triumph; In short, 36 victories in the last 37 games he has played; ten wins in the last ten mareos against players from the Top-10; two large in a five -month interval; the highest economic prize in the history of his sport – the 5.5 million euros that he was awarded for winning in Riad’s bolus; And, collecting all that and another good handful of more figures, a high and clear message: here he is to dominate, to mark the step, and who can not follow him will stay far behind. The gap between Sinner and the rest, subjugated, and Carlos Alcaraz grows up to the trial field without time to waste, because today is objectively behind.
That is, the Murcian, used in Melbourne’s rooms by Novak Djokovic, touches him overwhelm. “Jannik makes me a better player,” he recalls, the only one that the previous season managed to destabilize the number one of truth; After all, three of the six defeats he suffered took the rubric of Spanish, another world, another concept. Another tennis If Sinner (23 years) is the order and the method, pure and hard science, rhythm and more rhythm, Alcaraz (21) is an oscillating competitor and lately rather difficult to interpret, that in the same way he pulls fireworks that he skids from bad way; of the ecstasy of Roland Garros and Wimbledon to the premature fall in New York and the recently starred in Nole in Australia. Accelerated and nervous, without an alternative in the sleeve to alter the course of the party, he said goodbye and now has the titanic task of recovering the lost terrain so that the pulse of two voices does not derive in one.
Now, Sinner’s firm hierarchical ascension offers a reverse and in the Alcaraz surroundings it is confident that this imbalance that is being reflected on a hard track – 17 of the 19 Transalpine trophies have said context, except for UMAG (Earth) and Halle (grass) – serve as an encourage the Murcian to redouble the effort and take out his best version. The history of tennis is not understood without action-reaction or without that strip and loosen of the great rivalries that multiply the evolution of the protagonists. If one shoots, the other is obliged to reformulate, to improve. “It takes me to the limit, if I want to beat you, it is only worth me to play my best tennis,” repeats El Palmar, while Zverev slightly lowers my arms due to the disappointment of the moment and the calendar forces to turn page immediately. Sinner, in any case, has such a wide income that allows you to discharge as the one now with Róterdam, despite the fact that it involves losing 500 points.
Lifestyle vs. Muses
The explosion and settlement on the top of the San Cándido player has been more gradual and sustained, while Alcaraz’s career takes place at the blow of impacts. The Spanish, third of the world, took the lead in terms of resonance and success in 2022, but now it is Sinner who carries the singing voice and the one that forces others to an extra. His team, however, is confident that the imbalance will be limited between February and March, or at least not increased, and that from April – arc and grass in sight – it is recovering the main focus. Sinner looks at the front without distraction and extremely determined, with the projection of his professional career as a lifestyle, delivered, while Alcaraz waits at the return of the muses – in their case, they always usually return – and observe sideways to the leader of the leader of the leader of the Circuit, almost 5,000 points away. He alone up there.
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The calculations transmit that the subject has to be given very badly so that it does not reach summer at the top, and that from here to then the three tennis players who occupy the podium will compete to the limit, all forced to defend a very generous points. Without going any further, the number one itself must safeguard the whopping 5,000 from here to the US Open, although I see a very juicy double opportunity both on the earth and grass tour to continue reaffirming. Zverev, meanwhile, must protect 4,580 in the same period and Alcaraz will have to answer after the 2024 victories in Paris and London; Specifically, the one who became the youngest king of the circuit in 2022, with 19 years, must pay to a very high level for the defense of the 5,560 points that will put into play from here to then; However, it should be remembered that you will find in tournaments such as Montecarlo or Barcelona, even Miami or Madrid, a reef to explode.
While Sinner posed with his last trophy in Albert Park, 17,000 kilometers Alcaraz already prepared in Villena (Alicante) the assault on Róterdam, where he will parade for the first time having sacrificed the South American tour on land in favor of the hard track. The number two of the world will compete in Holland (from February 3 to 9) and subsequently coincide with the one in Doha (from 17 to 22); Later, in March, they will cross their paths again in Indian Wells and Miami, where the previous season triumphed respectively. “I think it was not a bad season on sand and grass last year, but I can do it better. Our goal is to continue finding that rhythm, the style of play, since it will be totally different when other tours arrive, especially that of grass, ”says the Italian, while Alcaraz throws rackets at home with the aim that Sinner does not follow putting more and more land in between.