Though former world No. 1 Mats Wilander concedes that Jannik Sinner has the all-around skill to win the French Open, the Italian will likely never catch up to Carlos Alcaraz as the tournament’s favorite.
With three titles to start the year—a Grand Slam victory at the Australian Open, followed by victories at the Rotterdam Open and Miami Open—Sincer is currently the tennis world’s most exciting prospect.
During his amazing run, he has defeated Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic, and Alcaraz. He has also climbed to a career-high position of No. 2 in the ATP Rankings, with just Djokovic standing in his way.
Though Wilander acknowledges the Italian will need to acclimate to the red soil before he can consider winning the French Open, all three of those titles were obtained on hard courts.
“Unless he puts together three or four great weeks on clay in the clay season beforehand, I don’t think Jannik’s going to walk into Roland-Garros as the favourite necessarily,” he told Eurosport.
“Throughout his tennis career, he will be compared to Novak Djokovic a lot, especially when it comes to clay court play. While he often plays with more aggression than Novak, they both have extremely comparable defensive games. On a clay court, that defense isn’t always effective.
The court may be too slick or his opponent may be playing too well at times if you’re unwilling to move off the baseline, in which case he won’t be the favorite at the French Open.
“If I were Jannik Sinner’s coach, I would like to see him play hard court tennis until the first few weeks of the clay court season.
Though he is an Italian who is very comfortable on clay, I don’t think he can win the French Open if he starts to play a little more passively and loses control of the point. This is because, no matter how skilled he is at defense, defending on a clay court with an open stance on the backhand one meter behind the baseline won’t be good enough against some players on some days.
Wilander is certain that Sinner can defeat Alcaraz in five sets and win the French Open, but he believes the 22-year-old will always trail the Spaniard in the rankings for some time to come.
Sinner’s most impressive performance at Roland Garros occurred during his first season in 2020, when he advanced to the quarterfinals. He was defeated by Daniel Altmaier in the second round of the previous year.
“I believe Carlos Alcaraz will enter the French Open as a heavy, heavy favorite for many more years than Jannik Sinner,” the Swede continued.
But that doesn’t imply Sinner won’t win the French Open more often than Alcaraz in five sets because Sinner’s poise throughout gives him a significant advantage in three sets.
