The Japan Times - Rivalry with Sinner 'great' for tennis, says Alcaraz

Alcaraz and Sinner have shared the last five Grand Slam titles between them, with the Spaniard claiming the French Open and Wimbledon last year, while Sinner opened his major account with victory in the Australian Open in 2024 before winning the US Open and defending his Melbourne title in January.

"I think for the people, for the tennis fans, I think it's great to have a match-up from some players that make them excited about watching that match," Alcaraz told his pre-tournament press conference.

"Right now I think the people are excited every time that I'm facing Jannik. Our matches I think are a really high quality of tennis.

"I think for the people and probably the people who don't like watching tennis, I think (our rivalry) is something that because of that (they have) started to watch tennis."

The 22-year-old nonetheless tempered expectations by insisting the rivalry was not yet on a par with some of the great match-ups in tennis history such as Roger Federer v Rafael Nadal or Bjorn Borg v John McEnroe.

- 'Legends' -

"I'm not gonna put myself or the great rivalry that I have with Jannik at (the) same level as those legends," Alcaraz said.

"Let's see in the future how it's gonna be. Right now for sure I'm not going to put ourselves into that table of that rivalries, but I think people are excited about watching our matches."

Fans were given a mouthwatering appetiser ahead of Roland Garros when Alcaraz and Sinner met in the final of the Italian Open last Sunday.

Despite not having played since the Australian Open in January due to a three-month doping suspension, world number one Sinner bulldozed his way to the final.

But Alcaraz stopped the 23-year-old from claiming victory in his home Masters with a dominant 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 performance that also put paid to a 26-match winning streak for the Italian.

Alcaraz's run to the semis in Rome moved him to number two in the world, ensuring he would come into Paris as the second seed behind Sinner.

However, beyond the top two, Alcaraz praised the overall strength in depth at the upper echelons of the men's game.

"I think in general, the top 20, 25, 30, they have really high level of tennis," he said.

"We could see it right now, for example, (Jakub) Mensik is 20, 21 (ranking), and he won Miami. That means how strong is the top 30 right now.

"Probably, like, 10 years ago, the top 10 was much stronger than now, could be, but in general, the top 30 I think right now is really, really strong."

Alcaraz faces a potentially tricky first-round tie after being drawn against former world number four Kei Nishikori.

The 35-year-old Japanese player is now ranked 62, but Alcaraz said he's taking nothing for granted against a "legend" of the sport.

"Honestly, I'm really excited about facing Nishikori for the first time.

"I'm watching him play a lot when I was young. I was really happy when he came back again on tour. I know that he has been struggling physically the last year, a lot of injuries that kept him away from playing.

"I know when he plays good tennis, (he's) really tough to beat. So I have to be ready for that, for the first round... I'm excited to play against a legend like Nishikori."

M.Fujitav--JT