"Carlos Alcaraz still seems a little better than Jannik Sinner" - Rafael Nadal's uncle Toni

Rafael Nadal's uncle, Toni, recently commented that Carlos Alcaraz's game appears to be slightly better than Jannik Sinner's.

Both Alcaraz and Sinner have had a brilliant 2024 season so far. The latter has won three titles out of the four tournaments he has played in so far. He kicked off the year by defeating defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the 2024 Australian Open. Sinner then went on to beat Daniil Medvedev in the championship match to win his first Grand Slam.

He continued his winning streak by winning the ABN AMRO Open title and then reaching the semifinals of the Indian Wells Masters, where he was defeated 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 by Carlos Alcaraz. However, the Italian bounced back by winning the Miami Open, defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-1 in the final. With this win, he dethroned Alcaraz and took over the World No. 2 ranking.

Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz had a strong start to the season with a quarterfinal finish at the Australian Open, followed by a semifinal finish at the Argentina Open. He then successfully defended his title at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells by defeating Daniil Medvedev 7-6(5), 6-1 in the final.

In terms of their overall records, Jannik Sinner has won one Grand Slam title and two Masters 1000 titles, while Alcaraz boasts two Grand Slam titles and five Masters 1000 titles.

In a recent interview with EFE (via Cadena SER), Rafael Nadal's uncle Toni praised both Sinner and Alcaraz, acknowledging that it will be tough to beat them. Despite their head-to-head record being tied at 4-4, Toni believes that the Spaniard is slightly superior to the Italian.

"[Tennis] has clearly received the baton, because the two [Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner] are showing that they will be difficult to beat for their rivals. [Carlos Alcaraz] still seems a little better than Sinner," Toni said as quoted by Cadena SER (translated from Spanish).

Toni expressed his excitement for the rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner to develop further in the coming years, while predicting that Sinner is the frontrunner to claim the World No. 1 ranking.

"[Jannik Sinner] does not fail, and today he is the top favorite to reach number one. A very good rivalry in the coming years for tennis, for Spain and for sport in general," he added.

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Jannik Sinner on his rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz: "When we play against, it's a very good matchup"

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships

Last month, while speaking to the press, Jannik Sinner stated that his rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz is intense and competitive. Sinner said that he and the Spaniard both have mutual respect for each other and that on the court they are always striving to give their best.

"When we play against, it's a very good matchup, we both try our best. We have a lot of respect for each other and, obviously, off the court we don't speak that much because he has his own things and I have my things," Jannik Sinner said.

Sinner also talked about Alcaraz being a player who is more expressive with his emotions compared to himself.

"He's a player who can show so many things and he has a lot of emotions. He shows really good fighting spirit and everyone is different no, I'm not showing so many emotions on the court but it works as well on my side," Sinner added.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will compete at the Monte-Carlo Masters, which will take place from April 7-14, 2024.