Jannik Sinner acknowledges that he is unsure of the extent of the damage to his wrist sustained during a painful tumble during his thrilling loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells semifinals.

Sinner’s 19-match winning streak and his perfect 16-0 start to 2024 were halted by Alcaraz’s 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory. The drama and quality of the most recent confrontation between the two young guns at the top of the men’s game lived up to the grandiose expectations.

Sinner did, however, have a worrying moment in the third set when he seemed to injure his wrist after tumbling during one of the match’s numerous intense rallies.

After the tumble, the Italian grasped his wrist swiftly and his face showed pain.

Sinner was extending the issue for the whole of the game, so Alcaraz promptly assessed the severity of the damage.

Sinner said, “I don’t know,” when Alcaraz asked him how his wrist felt during their handshake at the net. It is difficult to determine whether the issue affected Sinner and led to his ultimate defeat. We’ll check in again tomorrow.

The issue might raise doubts about Sinner’s ability to compete in the Miami Open, which begins in Florida the following week.

Sinner’s calf muscle strain at the beginning of the second set and his apparent lack of fitness concerns were not the only injury worries, as Alcaraz easily won the third set.

Sinner will be excited to play in Miami because he was unable to unseat the Spaniard from the No. 2 spot in the world following this loss to Alcaraz.

Sinner also has a lot of ranking points to protect in Miami following his journey to the championship game in the competition the previous year, which included a victory over Alcaraz in the semifinals.

After a lopsided first set, Sinner appeared certain to win the match, but Alcaraz showed why he was able to rally.

“My mental fortitude held firm. That’s a crucial component of this game, Alcaraz stated.

“If you want to win these kinds of matches, bounce back from a set down, and play against someone who is playing a tremendous game, you have to be psychologically tough.

“I’m rather pleased with what I accomplished. I somewhat altered my style. I adjusted my strategy a bit. It was quite effective. Extremely thrilled to have defeated Jannik and to be back in the final.

“I had to play better defense than I had in the opening set. I had to attempt to maintain my strength on the court and throw in more balls. My return style was modified.

“I was positioning myself more toward the back of the court, making some returns, and participating more in the rallies.”

After Boris Becker (1987–88) and Novak Djokovic (2007–08), Alcaraz became the third player under 21 to advance to the men’s singles final at Indian Wells with this victory, extending his amazing record there.

Alcaraz, who is now 20 years and 361 days old, is the youngest player to win 11 straight men’s singles matches at Indian Wells since the competition’s inception in 1974.

Despite Sinner’s recent media attention, the original wonder child of the new generation of tennis stars has now returned fire.