Jannik Sinner ‘very aware’ of Carlos Alcaraz fight as difficult period looming | Tennis | Sport

The battle for the world No. 1 ranking is heating up, as Jannik Sinner has a prime opportunity to further close the gap between himself and his biggest rival, Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner spent 66 weeks at the top before Alcaraz surpassed him last September. Barring one week in November, when Sinner got the No. 1 spot back, Alcaraz has stayed in pole position ever since.

But the Italian is now hot on his heels, and should he win the Miami Open, Sinner will be just 1,190 ranking points behind Alcaraz when the standings update on Monday. And Alcaraz is defending a lot more points in the coming weeks. He won the Monte-Carlo Masters last year and finished runner-up in Barcelona, earning 1,330 points across those two tournaments.

Meanwhile, Sinner was out serving a three-month suspension this time last year, and only returned ahead of the Italian Open. It means the current world No. 2 has ample opportunity to earn extra points wherever he plays. That’s already been the case during the Sunshine Double in Indian Wells and Miami. Sinner won Indian Wells a couple of weeks ago and is one match away from being crowned the Miami Open champion, too.

As he continues to close the gap, Sinner says he’s “well aware” of the ranking scenarios, which could help him leapfrog Alcaraz for the top spot in the coming weeks. After reaching the Miami Open final, the 24-year-old explained: “Look, I think that the ranking is a consequence of how someone plays, right?”

“So I know the opportunities, I know where I’m standing and everything. But what matters for me is trying to be as performant as possible in every big event, especially Grand Slams and also Masters events. So, obviously, I know the scenarios. I’m very aware, but everything can change with one event. That’s how tennis is.”

Sinner is also well aware that he and Alcaraz will be under a lot of pressure very soon. When the world No. 2 returned to competition at the Italian Open last year, he finished runner-up, losing to Alcaraz in the final. It was the start of a dominant streak for both men, who went deep in almost every tournament they played for the rest of the year.

From then on, Alcaraz lifted trophies at the French Open, Queen’s, Cincinnati, the US Open, and Tokyo. Sinner won titles in Wimbledon, Beijing, Vienna, Paris, and the ATP Finals. Most of the time, they faced each other in those finals, so they will both have thousands of points to defend from the Italian Open through to the end of the season. And the four-time Major winner knows this will present an opportunity for their rivals to surpass them.

“After, we also have to see how we both are going to react from Rome onwards, right? Because we made a lot for him and also for me,” Sinner added. “But I’m happy to put myself in this position. As I said, It’s just a consequence of how I’m going to play, how he’s going to play, how others are going to play. Because Sascha [Zverev] is an incredible player. As we saw, he’s there, so yeah, let’s see.”

For now, Sinner’s focus is on the Miami Open. The second seed beat Zverev 6-3 7-6(4) in the semi-finals. It was a high-quality showing from both men, and Zverev even had a higher performance rating than Sinner, but the Italian proved unstoppable.

Afterwards, he said: “It’s good to put myself in this position. Obviously, I tried to perform in the best possible way in every event. Obviously, in bigger events, I like to play more. So ‘’m very happy that I can play one more final here in Miami. It has been an incredible place since the first day I was here. I have played some great tennis in the past, and now I am finding myself again, and the final means a lot to me.”

EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page