A simple look is enough to check the seven differences, the disposition of one and the other for the grand final of this Sunday in London (17.00, Movistar+). If Carlos Alcaraz accesses the training area with a friendly gesture and jokes, “Tutto Bene, Jannik?”, The imperturbable face of Sinner does not alter an apex and as long Wimbledon, everything is different.
Although one and the other agree to separate an episode of another, it is difficult for the mood empellon fitting by number one to have been buried in the Paris clay. This is demonstrated by the facts. Tell those reunions between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, than the Swiss, plenipotentiary between 2003 and 2007, they produced hives for the mere presence on the other side of the boy of the boy who arrived to whip him in his own kingdom; or, in the same way, the headaches and the permanent concern suffered by the Spanish before the endless meetings with one Novak Djokovic, the master of the hieroglyphs, practically indecipherable. For both, irremediable the constant crossing of roads. Always to the limit.
It is now up to Alcaraz and Sinner, new heads of a stage in which for almost two decades they have been discussed to three voices and now discusses two bands. With 22 and 23 years, respectively, this afternoon they will star in its thirteenth duel, which San Cándido arrives with extra pressure. After the soup received at the Philippe Chatrier, where he had three game balls, a second consecutive blow could mark a turning point in the new rivalry, while the Murcia would be raised on two of the three surfaces, in the personal pulse between them —8-4 in the face to face and five Majors to three for now – and in a dynamic that from last year reflects a clear slope.
Alcaraz has been imposed in the last five duels, all disputed since last year; The last three, finals. That is, from the psychological and competitive point of view, in addition to the domain of the surface, that of El Palmar seems to leave with a couple of advantage palms because it also says the five great broches that it has faced by victories. However, I suspicion. Logically distrust the regenerative capacity of a Sinner caliber competitor. “As a great champion that is, Jannik learns from everything, also from defeats, day to day. I am sure that this time it will be stronger both physically and mentally; surely he will return to one hundred percent,” he warns.
Destabilize
Throughout these two weeks, the transalpine has progressed in a straight line and without making any concession. Only a bad fall that hurt his elbow in the eighths, against Grigor Dimitrov, diverted his pace without major impact; First tremors and then fortune, for the withdrawal of the Bulgarian. The rest, a walk. Categorical in the statistics to the service – he has only granted four breaks and defends 95% of his shifts – keeps the record and builds his game from the bottom; Instead, Alcaraz appears again as an undetectable competitor, with a broader stylistic catalog that allows him to make adjustments and rethink the formula based on the needs. It happened, without going any further, in Roland Garros’s comeback.
| Alcaraz | SINNER | |
|---|---|---|
| ACES | 75 | 54 |
| First inside | 63% | 63% |
| Points with first | 78% | 82% |
| Points with seconds | 55% | 64% |
| Saved breakage points | 77% | 76% |
| Games won with the serve | 90% | 95% |
| Granted breaks | 11 | 4 |
| Network success | 144/204 | 84/114 |
| Sake and volley | 77/671 | 2/426 |
| Effectiveness from the bottom | 49% | 58% |
Unlike other occasions, it does not seem that wear can penalize Spanish beforehand, on whose tour of this last episode has invested almost five more hours on the track —16h 28m compared to 11h 45m – and five sets have been left, by the two of the other finalist. For everything, it has offered Alcaraz solutions, solid from the trench and growing as the ramps have been leaning. Given adversity and demand, courage. While Sinner constantly percates from the bottom, he has been seizing the network-almost twice the approximations, 204-114-and increasingly exploiting the outlaw-volera maneuver, with a clear progression in the percentages. The goal is meridian. Deliberate: destabilize.
It will be the second time they are in the cathedral, after the 2022 eighth chapter, when the current circuit leader prevailed. In any case, they transmit one and the other that will have nothing to do with what happens this time. “Now we are completely different players. I think the movement is the most difficult and important about grass, and Jannik’s is incredible. He slides with both legs as if playing on the ground,” he emphasizes. Sinner, on the other hand, says that he addresses the challenge and that the Murcia, logically, “part as a favorite” because he has already peppered twice in the tournament. And he insists: behind Paris, the revolution after five and a half hours of Brega.
“If that game was still in my head, I would not have come here. It will be difficult, but it excites me,” he says, with the possibility of raising his big room, the first in London at his premiere in the final. “Honestly, I have not seen it again; only a few clips, some points, but not so much. It was the best game I have ever played. I hope we fight again to the limit, that it is on the same line. I just hope I do not have five and a half hours on the track again. As I said, if I have to do it, I will do it,” says Alcaraz. And he knows well why he says it: in that field of uncertainty, funambulism and vertigos, his head is upper today.
The new tyranny takes body
Ac | London
Wimbledon did not contemplate such a young final since Nadal and Federer were measured in 2006, when Basel was 25 years old and the Mallorcan challenged him for the first time about the green with 20. To that litigation also added Djokovic, who would dynamit the pulse to two and ended up imposing himself in the great historical career of all time.
Among the three added 66 large and established a tyranny that barely admitted interference. Specifically, between 2003 and 2023 at least one of them took a title. Now those who have appropriated the circuit are Alcaraz and Sinner, who have won the last seven at stake, nine of 12 from the US Open of 2022.
Then the Murcian was crowned for the first time, which this Sunday could emulate if he chains the double Roland Garros-Wimbledon for the second year followed to the legendary Björn Borg. The Swedish got it three times. They were also made in the same year with the Majors Europeans Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) and Nadal (2008 and 2010), but not consecutively.
For today’s meeting a temperature of 29º is expected. It will begin for the first time at 5:00 p.m., instead of 15.00, the usual schedule; The reason, television audiences.
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