Jannik Sinner believes his on-court rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz is “like fire and nice” while the Spaniard has opened up about the mutual respect they have for each other, although he concedes “we are not close friends”.
The Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry has been one of the most gripping in tennis in recent years and they produced another enthralling installment in the China Open final with the Spaniard winning in three sets and he now holds a 6-4 lead in their head-to-head series.
After the match, they put their on-court rivalry to one side and travelled together on the same private jet to Shanghai with the image of the two respective teams on the same plane widely applauded on social media.
But what makes their rivalry so special?
“I feel like off the court we are quite similar on the court we are different,” Sinner told ATP.
“He is the one who brings the firepower and the hot shots, he involves the crowd. He is a bit different. I am more like the solid player, quite calm. So it’s like fire and ice a bit. So but it’s a nice combination.”
He added: “For me it’s nice that we are rivals on the court and then friends off the court.
“Because, at least I feel like, talking from my side, that he pushes me to do better. I wake up in the morning trying to understand what I can do better, trying to beat him next time, which is something nice for me as a player.
“And I feel like off the court we are quite similar because we surround ourselves with our close ones, we like to stay with the team. There are many, many similar things I feel like.
“Whenever we shake hands or when a match is done, after we left all on the court and then taking a plane or whatever, it was nice, actually, it was something different, but nice.”
Ahead of the Shanghai Masters, Alcaraz was asked if they do spend time together away from court.
“Well, we don’t talk too much when we are around, obviously. We have a really good relationship off the court as well,” the four-time Grand Slam winner said.
“I think we both respect each other a lot, as a player, as a person, but once we are on tour travelling, you know, during tournaments when we are on site, we are with our team on our own, so we don’t speak too much.
“When we can, we talk a little bit besides tennis, about life a little bit, but not too much. We have a good relationship, but we are not close friends, you know, but I think the respect that we have, you know, put us in a position that we have a really good relationship.”
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