Sinner on Alcaraz defeat: 'It's part of my growing process'

Despite his obvious disappointment, Jannik Sinner is taking the positives out of his Roland Garros run, which ended at the hands of friend and rival Carlos Alcaraz at the semi-final stage on Friday.

The 22-year-old Italian led the Spaniard by two sets to one before he eventually fell in five sets in a match that lasted four hours and 10 minutes.

“I think it was a great match. For sure the sets he won he played better in the important points. I think that was the key. Obviously disappointed how it ended, but it’s part of my growing and the process,” Sinner said. “Thinking back before the tournament reaching this point, I’m obviously very happy.

“In the other way, I’m disappointed about the match today. Now I’m just to keep looking forward to improve, to try to do my best I can and then we see what I can do in the future here in this tournament. If we watch the positive side, I have improved from last year.”

Sinner, who will rise to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday, was competing in the semi-finals at Roland Garros for the first time. The Australian Open champion dropped just one set en route to the semi-finals before he lost to Alcaraz, who improved to 5-4 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Their rivalry is one of the most exciting on Tour, with their clash on Friday one of the most anticipated matches of the year. Sinner is excited for more heavyweight clashes with Alcaraz in the future.

“If we watch the results, we always or most likely play against [each other] in the semis or final or quarters, [in] very important matches. I think that’s exciting for the game, especially when head-to-head is quite close,” Sinner said. “And the winner is happy and then the loser tries to find a way to beat him the next time. I think that’s exciting. That’s what I will try to do.

“I think we study each other very well. You can see a little bit of tension sometimes of both players and both sides just because we know each other slowly a little bit better. Each time when we play against [each other] we expect a couple of things and then to mix up the plan, you make different choices sometimes on the court. I think next time obviously is going to be different.”

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Sinner entered Roland Garros having missed Rome due to a hip injury. The 13-time tour-level titlist looked comfortable through his opening five matches but suffered with cramp during the third set against Alcaraz.

“For sure, some tension. Tension and after cramp a little bit,” Sinner said of his on-court issues. “I handled these situations a little bit better now. I had previous years these kind of moments where I couldn’t handle them. If we watch that, I handled them a little bit better. It was quite early in the match. We didn’t play so much, so I was not worried about my body. Was keeping up quite well.”

Sinner leaves Paris holding a 33-3 record on the season. He is next scheduled to play at the ATP 500 grass-court event in Halle, which begins a week from Monday.

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